September 2013 Issue

C HRONICLE the harvard-westlake

Los Angeles • Volume XXIII • Issue II • Sept. 25, 2013 • hwchronicle.com

Record 54 earn Merit semifinalist distinction

By Sarah Novicoff

JACK GOLDFISHER AND NOA YADIDI/CHRONICLE

FORMALLY INVITED: Head Fanatic Jonathan Felker ’14 asks Briana Cooper ’15 to the Homecoming Formal, left. Fanatics, cheerleaders and Prefects announce the dance on the quad Aug. 30, top. Cheerleader Shana Haddad ’14, along with Fanatics and other cheerleaders, sells the new Fanatics shirt with the slogan ‘Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop’ during Monday activities period, bottom.

Students prepare for Homecoming games with semiformal dance, Fanatic Fest week

By Noa Yadidi

In the lead-up to Homecoming Oct. 5, students will attend the first Homecoming dance in recent years and participate in Fanatic Fest festivities that will no longer include an all-school assembly in Taper Gym. Prefect Council will host the Homecoming Formal Sept. 28 from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. in Taper Gym, the prefects announced in a staged procession after school Aug. 30. Tickets for the dance are $50 each.

Students in grades 1012 will be able to rent limousines, wear formal attire and bring dates to the dance.

However, similar to prom, all students who attend the dance and their parents will need to sign a pledge. Students ninth grade and below are not allowed to attend the dance, even if invited, Head of Middle School Jon Wimbish said.

INSIDE

JOIN THE CLUB: Groups showcased their plans for the year and attracted new members at the annual Activities Fair Sept. 16.

A7

Students bringing dates trance and will be allowed to from other schools are also leave at the end of the event. required to get their dates To announce the formal, to sign the pledge. By signing Head Fanatics, football playthe pledge, students agree to ers and cheerleaders drove rules including the prohibi- into the quad in a party bus tion of alcohol and drugs at that stopped in the middle of the formal and not attending the quad. Music started to an after party play from at a non-resithe car as dential venue. prefects It’s a great way All limoudescended sines will be the stairs to build community, searched bein front and it’s a real win for fore students of Seavcan enter the Hall everyone. Homecoming er dance. dressed in is going to start with a Students formal atand parents tire, handwin.” must sign the ing out —Audrius Barzdukas save the pledge on the trips and acHead of Upper School date cards. tivities portal “ W e on the school’s had the website before tickets can be idea at the end of last year purchased at the bookstore, that we wanted to create an the prefects announced in an entirely new event that had email to all upper school stu- no prerequisites or anything dents. like that where we just kind Students must arrive at of thought it up and this is the dance by 8:30 to gain en- the idea that came from it,”

“

B7 IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: As students prepare for the Homecoming Formal, some plan expensive evenings while others try to cut costs.

ON THE BALL: The field hockey team went undefeated in pre-season play, beating rival Huntington Beach.

C1

Head Prefect Ashley Sacks ’14 said.

The prefects met with Head of Upper School Audrius Barzdukas, Chief Financial Officer Rob Levin and the Planning Committee several times to work out logistics for the event and rules that would be in place, Sacks said.

Barzdukas and Levin gave the prefects official assent Aug. 22, as did the Planning Committee Aug. 29.

“Harvard-Westlake is going to have a homecoming dance,” Barzdukas said.

“What could be more fun?

It’s a great way to build community, and it’s a real win for everyone. Homecoming is going to start with a win.”

The dance has been planned for the Saturday before Homecoming in order to allow all athletes playing in games Oct. 5 to attend and to kick off Fanatic Fest, Sacks said.

• Continued on page A8

A record 54 students, almost 20 percent of the senior class, were named National Merit Semifinalists this year, the highest number in school history. Those students represent almost 2.7 percent of California’s 2,028 semifinalists, ranking the school fourth in the state in number of semifinalists and second in percentage of the senior class.

“It’s a very high number for one school,” upper school dean Rose-Ellen Racanelli said. “It’s extraordinary. I don’t think you are going to find numbers like that elsewhere. You have a sense that this class was a good and talented group in the sense of ability. It’s a wonderful increase over what we had last year, especially when the cutoff is now 223. It’s really exciting.”

The previous school record occurred in 2004, when the Class of 2005 had 52 semifinalists. This year the school was second in the state in senior class representation to the Harker School, a private school with a senior class of approximately 170 students in San Jose. Harker also placed above Harvard-Westlake in number of semifinalists along with Mission San Jose High School, a public school with approximately 540 seniors in Fremont, and Monta Vista High School, a Cupertino public school with more than 600 seniors.

Approximately 16,000 semifinalists were selected nationwide based on PSAT scores from October 2012 and represent the top one percent of each state. California had the second highest selective index in the country this year with a cutoff of 223, tied with Maryland and behind Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, New Jersey and international schools, each with a cutoff of 224. Last year, when the California cutoff was 221, Harvard-Westlake had 29 • Continued on page A8

ONtheWEB BLING RING: Seniors receive class rings and pins at the 80th annual Senior Ceremony, a Westlake tradition.

Watch the video at hwchronicle.com/ ringceremony2013

A2

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013 3700 Coldwater Canyon Ave. Studio City, Calif. 91604

Preview

TEAM BONDING: Nick Knight ’14, left, and Roman Holthouse ’15 hold hands as they navigate the ropes course during Peer Support retreat Sept. 21.

News A11

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF GWYNN POLLARD

THE MAN ON THE SIGN: Maintenance worker Gregorio Hernandez sprays down the quad after school.

MAZELLE ETESSAMI/ CHRONICLE

A&E B11 Features B5

SAM SACHS/CHRONICLE

IN HOT PURSUIT: Defensive end Anthony Ulloa ’14 chases down the Granada Hills quarterback in the football team’s 47-18 win Sept.

12 at Ted Slavin Field.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF JESSE LIU

IN HARMONY: Jesse Liu ’14 plays his French horn in the Colburn Youth Orchestra.

offbeat

Sports C1

Salamandra exercises body, mind with new desk

By Sydney Foreman and Julia Aizuss

Senior alumni officer Harry Salamandra didn’t just change to a new office this year when the Alumni Office moved up the hill above the security kiosk, where former President Tom Hudnut used to work. He changed the very fundamentals of his workspace too, trading in his old office desk for a treadmill desk.

“For me, I think it’s a wonderful way to get work done,” Salamandra said.

After receiving a treadmill from his brother-in-law in June, Salamandra purchased the TrekDesk treadmill desk from Amazon. He likes it because “the desk is u-shaped so

I am more towards the center and there is space on either side of me,” he said.

The TrekDesk website advocates its treadmill desk on the basis that it “promotes health restoration, weight loss and disease prevention; boosting mood, productivity and cognitive functions at any age.”

Although Salamandra now teaches Library and Technology at the Middle School, every day at the Upper School has also meant a day on the treadmill. Most of the time he operates it at about one to one and a half miles per hour, he said.

“I wouldn’t call it running,” he said. “It’s a slow enough speed that I feel comfortable to keep working.”

At this speed, he has been

able to get work done such as talking on the phone, typing on a keyboard and jotting down notes. He said this is particularly useful for his position as senior alumni officer because it requires more time at his desk than his previous position as Head of Upper School.

“I never spend a whole lot of time sitting at my desk, but at my new position there is a lot more time I need to be on the phone or corresponding with people on the computer,” Salamandra said.

Salamandra’s not constantly on the go, though.

Since the TrekDesk can be used either as treadmill or as a standing desk, he occasionally winds down and merely stands.

The Chronicle, the student newspaper of Harvard-Westlake School, is published nine times per year and distributed free on both the upper and middle school campuses. There are 727 students at the Middle School and 870 students at the Upper School. Subscriptions may be purchased for $20 a year for delivery by mail.

Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the seniors on the Editorial

“After you go a few miles you need a little bit of a break,” Salamandra said. “It’s not that you get tired, you get a little dizzy.”

Because his new office could not fit his previous, bigger desk, he also purchased a small, round table so that he could still have the option to work in the classical seated position if he so desired, but so far he has not opted for the conventional route, he said.

Although Salamandra said he likes the treadmill desk right now, calling it a “wonderful way to get work done,” he’s not sure how he’ll feel a few months down the road.

“Four months from now, I might put it on Craigslist,” he said.

SYDNEY FOREMAN/CHRONICLE

WORK OUT AT WORK: Senior alumni officer Harry Salamandra takes a phone call while exercising on his desk.

Board. Letters to the editor may be submitted to chronicle@hw.com or mailed to 3700 Coldwater Canyon Ave., Studio City, CA 91604. Letters must be signed and may be edited for space and to conform to Chronicle style and format. Advertising questions may be directed to Tara Stone at 310-430-8537. Publication of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of the product or service by the newspaper or the school.

Sept. 25, 2013

hwchronicle.com/news

Parents to resolve absences online

News A3

By Alex McNab

A new system for submitting parent notes has recently gone live on the Parent Portal.

With the new electronic note sending system, when students have an unresolved absence on their record, a parent is automatically sent an email notification informing them of the absence. The system was created over the summer by software development manager Alan Homan and his team of programmers.

Upon receiving the email, parents can go to the Parent Portal page on the school website, click on the student info tab and then click on the attendance link. This will lead parents to a page with a tab labeled “Unresolved.” Parents select that tab to view the absence. After clicking on the absence, parents tag it as either caused by a planned appointment or an illness and are then allowed to write a short explanation note, which is automatically submitted to attendance coordinator Gabriel Preciado through the school’s Didax program.

When Preciado sees the note, he then either resolves the absence or asks the parents to provide more information regarding the absence.

A log of all note entries is kept and can be viewed by parents in order to prevent students from faking notes.

However, parents are advised to keep their Parent Portal passwords a secret to prevent forgery.

If an absence remains unresolved for over two days, an email notification is automatically delivered to give the student enough time to resolve the absence before a detention is enforced.

However, the program cannot be used to send advance notice of an absence. The class first has to be missed and the absence registered, and a separate note has to be written for each day missed.

“I’m really excited about this process,” Preciado said.

“We all have busy lives.”

HENRY HAHN/CHRONICLE

Parents attend classes at Back-to-School Day

COMMON GROUND: President Rick Commons, right, and Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts, center, speak to a parent during Back-to-School day Sept. 21. Parents attended an entire day of their child’s schedule, though each period was only 10 minutes long. There were two extra presentations to accommodate classes that only meet once per cycle, such as Choices and Challenges.

Students to voluntarily teach weekend arts classes at public school in honor of Carr

By Sydney Foreman

A bimonthly arts program in memory of Justin Carr ’14 will begin at an Inglewood elementary school Sept. 28.

Each of the three-hour workshops in the Justin Carr’s Dare to Dream Arts Program were designed by students.

Volunteers are not required to attend every session, but are free to design and assist with as many workshops as they please. Each workshop will count for three to six hours of community service.

At the moment there is no school-supplied transport, but arrangements will be made if necessary, organizer Mintis Hankerson ’14 said. Carr first conceived of the program while he was driving past an abandoned theater near his house, said his mother Susan Carr. He thought it would

be the perfect place to build classrooms and put on performances for students who do not typically have the opportunity to do so, his mother said.

“Justin always had opportunities during the summer, whether it was architecture, technical theater design or writing,” Susan Carr said. “He knew lots of kids didn’t have this, so he wanted to give them more options.”

Carr began looking for schools that would be easily accessible to members of the community before his sudden death last February. The Frank D. Parent School provides this accessibility along with arts facilities, including studio art classrooms and a gym equipped with a stage.

When visiting the campus, Carr began a friendship with Eleanor Wallace, a math teacher at the school. She got

him involved in a Saturday morning math and science program that was already instituted at the elementary school.

Carr asked members of the Black Leadership and Culture Club to volunteer at these Saturday sessions. Some BLACC members even continued to work at the school over the summer.

Danielle Stolz ’15 and Katie

Hohl ’15 will conduct the first workshop and explore three projects that emphasize selfportraiture, design concepts and color theory.

Art teacher Marianne Hall hopes the program will expand to other schools in the future.

“If it works here it can be taken to the local neighborhood schools of [Harvard-Westlake] students,” Hall said. “I think it will be warmly welcomed.”

soundbyte

“These kids don’t have any art programs at their schools, and art is such a special and important way to get to express yourself that everyone should get.”

—Katie Hohl ’15

nathanson’s

Scheduling app available for free download

By Eugenia Ko

JESSICA SPITZ/ CHRONICLE

UP TO DATE: With the app, students can keep track of scheduled classes and add notes.

updated app for students and teachers to use throughout Almost 60 percent of the the school day. He also added student body has downloaded developments from Benjamin’s the iHW smartphone applica- prior electronic version of the tion developed by Jonschool’s academic athan Burns ’14 since planner. it was published Sept.

“I wanted to 13. avoid having stuHead of Upper dents enter their School Audrius Barclasses manually, so zdukas announced I added the ‘DownSept. 16 that Burns load from hw.com’ had created the app feature,” Burns said. for use by the school.

“I wanted the app nathanson’s Burns began the to always have the project at the end of correct times, reJonathan the 2013 school year as gardless of special Burns ’14 a final programming schedules, holidays, assignment required in the and tests, so I made a website Design and Data Structures that tells the app when those course. Knowing the popular- days are.” ity of the previous version by Although Burns had Gabe Benjamin ’11, his goal worked on app development at was to create an efficient and an internship at UCLA, creat-

ing the iHW mobile app for both the iPhone and Android was a long and complicated process, according to Burns.

The project entailed developing the program first for Personal Computers and adapting it for a mobile version. The iPhone and Android also required different programming languages and with about 6500 lines of code, Burns dedicated about 200 hours of his summer creating the two versions.

“I had to write the entire iPhone version from scratch,” Burns said. “I couldn’t use any of Gabe Benjamin’s existing code or any of the code from the Android or PC versions.”

Burns focused on designing the app to allow students and teachers to continue using it after his graduation and will transfer the app to the com-

puter science department at the end of the year.

Burns contacted several people on faculty, including Barzdukas, Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts, and Director of Instructional Technology Jeffrey Snapp for approval.

“Jonathan did an amazing job with the app,” Snapp said. “He considered that the Middle School and Upper School have different numbers of periods each day and also different numbers of days in a cycle. The previous iHW app was only designed for the US schedule.”

This was the first time Burns has published an application. He also programmed a website, ihwapp.com, for additional information and setup instruction.

A4 News

The Chronicle

Language faculty adopts new name

Sept. 25, 2013

By Noa Yadidi

The Foreign Language department has changed its name to the World Language department.

“The modern languages we teach are not ‘foreign’ to our country or school community, and the classical languages we teach are not ‘alien,’ but rather inform our culture and lives today,” middle school World Language department head Melissa Strong said in a statement to the Faculty Academic Committee.

Spanish teacher Nancy Holme-Elledge first proposed the name change roughly 10 years ago, but not all teachers were in favor of the change.

When Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts re-proposed the idea, the department decided to make the change, upper school World Language department head Margot Riemer said. The name change process was informal, due to the technical nature of the change, she said.

“More and more schools and universities around the country are calling their language departments ‘world languages’ instead of ‘foreign language,’” Riemer said. “Foreign was never meant to be pejorative in any way but the languages that we’re studying really aren’t foreign anymore.

Now, there is so much more diversity everywhere that these aren’t foreign languages anymore. They’re languages that are spoken in our community and our community reflects those cultures.”

The newly named department is still in the process of changing the school website.

Latin and Greek classes, although ancient languages not currently spoken, will still be taught under the umbrella term of world language, as they are regarded this way in many textbook classifications, Riemer said.

Although the department has adopted a new moniker, English will remain as a separate department although it does fall under the categorization of “world language.”

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF EMILY KENNEDY

WIKILEAKS: Daniel Brühl, left, and Benedict Cumberbatch act out a scene in ‘The Fifth Estate,’ a film about WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange, played by Cumberbatch. The Chronicle will host a prescreening at the Upper School Oct 10.

Chronicle to host pre-screening of film about WikiLeaks founder, editor-in-chief

By Lauren Sonnenberg

tion of volunteers as well as the team behind the website to The Chronicle will host a operate. Journalists or whispre-screening of “The Fifth tle-blowers submit documents Estate” in Ahmanson Lecture to a drop-box to ensure they Hall after school on Oct. 10. do not get jailed for sharing The drama follows the activi- such information. ties of Australian activist and The goal of WikiLeaks is WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Ju- “to bring important news and lian Assange. information to the public,” the WikiLeaks is an website stated. “One international organiof our most important zation that publishes activities is to publish secret information and original source maclassified data. terial alongside our Students, faculty news stories so readand parents are invited ers and historians to view the free screenalike can see evidence ing, which was offered of the truth.” to the school by StacIn November ey Snider (Katie Jones 2010, WikiLeaks colnathanson’s ’15, Natalie Jones ’17), laborated with global Kathleen CEO and co-chairman media organizations Neumeyer of DreamWorks Stuto release U.S. State dios.

Department papers, Last year, Snider provided divulging confidential milia copy of “Lincoln” for the tary strategy and diplomatic school to have a preview. proceedings. After attempt“The Fifth Estate” is based ing to leak Afghan war logs to on Assange’s exploits and the the Washington Post and New website he created in 2006, York Times, former U.S. Army which relies on the collabora- private Chelsea Manning, for-

Practicum dropped after no signups

By Morganne Ramsey

Although the English department added two new courses to the senior year curriculum, the vast majority of seniors still elected to take the AP courses. Only eight seniors signed up for the year long Shakespeare course, and no seniors signed up for Senior Practicum.

According to the curriculum guide, the purpose of practicum was to explore philosophical and ethical issues through reading literature, and for students to learn to express their beliefs on these issues in their writing.

English department head Larry Weber saw the creation of the class as necessary because the department had

dropped grade requirements for the AP English courses.

“We figured that there should be another course, serious and thought-through, that would allow for another kind of focus and a little less intensity,” Weber said.

Due to the lack of interest, Senior Practicum is not being taught this year nor in the future.

“I was really excited to teach it,” Weber said, “As it turned out, the AP designation was too tantalizing to turn down.”

Eight seniors signed up for the year long Shakespeare, but only a couple of them are taking it to fulfill their English requirement, the rest are taking it as an elective to supplement their AP English class.

Since the enrollment was small, the students were placed into the sections of the semester long class.

However, English teacher Jocelyn Medawar, who teaches the Shakespeare class, said that enrollment may go up later in the year.

“Some of the first semester students will elect to stay for a whole year, so the number of students who take Shakespeare for an entire year will probably go up from the initial eight,” Medawar said.

The English department is considering other alternatives to implement next year.

“We’ll have to go back to the drawing board,” Weber said.

Medawar said that Shakespeare will most likely be of-

merly known as Bradley, contacted Assange and released the documents and videos of airstrikes via WikiLeaks.

Manning has since been sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Assange is currently living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid arrest for a sexual assault investigation in Sweden.

Were he to leave the embassy, he would be extradited to Sweden to face charges, which might ultimately result in his extradition to the United States to face charges over the diplomatic cables case.

“To me, education is about presenting ideas and having the students create the analysis,” Director of Student Affairs Jordan Church said.

“Hopefully it is framed in a way that’s one side of the conversation, and we can have the other side. In school you’ve been taught that there’s one right answer and it’s in the back of the book; so something like this involves a discussion.”

The Chronicle was asked

“

to host the screening by Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts, who thought this movie would be an appropriate one for journalism to sponsor, given that WikiLeaks raises questions of journalistic responsibility and ethics, communications department head Kathleen Neumeyer said.

Upper school history teacher Francine Werner ’68 echoed Church’s sentiments as she believed this would be a way for people to talk about the situation and that “[Assange] shouldn’t be glorified or vilified, but he’s someone worth looking at and investigating.”

“I don’t know if he’s driven by some obligation for humanity or if he’s just an egomaniac, it’s hard to tell,” she continued.

The film, starring British actor Benedict Cumberbatch as Assange, will be screened eight days before its official release.

The film originally premiered at the Toronto Film Festival early September.

We figured that there should be another course, serious and thought-through, that would allow for another kind of focus and a little less intensity.”

—Larry Weber English Department Head

fered as an alternative to AP English again next year.

“Shakespeare immediately provides a non-AP option,” Medawar said.

The reading list for English II has also been changed.

To make this change, the English department considers a variety of factors: which books will fit in the thematic sequence for the class, which books are challenging enough for the course and, in the case of the sophomore class, which

nathanson’s

books will most help prepare the students for junior year.

“A lot of thought goes into why we choose to move on from a work and what to include instead,” Weber said.

Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre” has been dropped from the curriculu and three new books have been added: “Antigone” by Sophocles, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”

by Mark Twain, and “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” by Muriel Spark.

Sept. 25, 2013

hwchronicle.com/news

News A5

Professor discusses graphene potential

By Jake Saferstein

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF JEN BLADEN

PEN-PUSHER: “Little Princes” author Conor Grennan, right, signs students’ books as they line up to speak with him. The book relates the story of his journey through Nepal as he fights to save abducted children from human traffickers and reunite them with their families.

‘Little Princes’ author stresses perseverance at Middle School all-community read assembly

By Nikta Mansouri

Conor Grennan, author of the Middle School’s All-Community Read “Little Princes,” told the middle school at an assembly Monday that a volunteering stint in Nepal inspired him to write the book and start a nonprofit.

The book describes going to Nepal in search of adventure and ending up volunteering at an orphanage, the Little Princes Children’s Home. The book follows Grennan as he learns that the children were abandoned by child traffickers.

Grennan made a lot of “self-deprecating” remarks about how he only went to Nepal to impress his friends and girls at bars but ended up caring for the kids and wanting to change their lives, Amanda Angle, English teacher and

head of the All-Community Read Committee, said. His message was that if he can do it, anyone can do it.

“His story is really moving, and his perseverance is truly inspiring,” Katie Schlesinger ’17 said. “I’m glad I got to hear him speak,” Angle said that overall the students responded positively to the book and that teachers were utilizing the Hub for interactive book discussions, in which students could participate in online conversations together.

Grennan also went to the library third period to meet the kids, sign their books and take photos with them.

He told students that if they messaged him on Facebook or Twitter, he would reply, and students have taken him up on the offer, chatting with him on

social networks.

by Rabbi Emily Feigenson and Students could also submit English teacher Julia Grody. a question in order to enter a Angle said that the comraffle, and two eighth graders mittee started the book selecand four seventh graders won. tion process early this year.

The prize was a special NepalThe committee had around ese lunch with Gren50 books to choose nan prepared by the from but ultimately cafeteria while they settled on “Little discussed the book.

Princes.” They wantAngle described ed to stray from Grennan as being the sci-fi genre befunny and inspircause the past few ing throughout his books have been in presentation and his that genre, such as discussions with the “Ender’s Game” and community.

“The Hunger Games.” nathanson’s “Conor Grennan is a The committee Amanda Angle very personable guy chose “Little Princes” who anyone can talk because of how into,” Angle said. spiring its message is, Parents assembled to even though Angle said they watch a livefeed of the assem- were initially concerned that bly from the Black Box The- the students wouldn’t be able ater and have a book club-style to relate to the story or enjoy discussion with Grennan, led it as much as the adults.

UCLA professor Richard Kaner lectured students on graphene and its uses in Ahmanson Lecture Hall during activities Sept. 9.

Kaner received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and is the Associate Editor for the Materials Research Bulletin.

He is also a member of the American Chemical Society, the Electrochemical Society and the Materials Research Society. Kaner specializes in inorganic chemistry, materials and nanoscience.

Graphene is a molecule of a single layer of carbon atoms in a hexagonal pattern. It is a basic building block of other crystals such as graphite, a stack of graphene molecules used for lubrications and is the key element of pencils.

Kaner discussed many potential uses of graphene like how it both bends and conducts electricity, so bendable electronics are a possibility in the near future.

Graphene also stores and conducts electricity well, which allows it to charge current smartphones in less than a second and electric busses in China in a few seconds. Another example of graphene’s conductivity is its use to power a whole store with just one revolving door, Kaner said.

In addition to his presentation, Kaner distributed demos in which students could peel graphite layer by layer into graphene and laser artwork where graphene oxide was heated to form graphene.

“I enjoyed that he explained all the uses of graphene, and I especially liked the buses in China that charge quickly at every stop [using graphene as a superconductor],” Jack Graham ’15 said.

Teacher organizes journalist film screening, Q&A session

By Scott Nussbaum

ington and his numerous wartime experiences.

Bouckaert, who is the diA documentary honoring the life of award-winning rector of the emergencies diphotojournalist Tim Hether- vision at the Human Rights Watch, will ington, who answer queswas killed in tions about Libya while Implicit in the Hetherington working on and working a documenfilm is the idea that if at the Hutary, will be you are going to be in man Rights screened Oct. Watch.

1. the action, you have to The film is A quesown it. You can’t be on titled “Which tion-and-anWay is the swer session the sidelines.”

Front Line with Hetherington’s per—Ted Walch from Here?”

Hethsonal friend Performing arts teacher which e r ingt on and Human asked after Rights Watch employee Peter Bouckaert will he was hit by a mortar attack in Libya and fatally injured. be held after the film.

“The film seeks to honor Upper school performing arts teacher Ted Walch is a Tim Hetherington and imformer teacher and friend of plicit in the film is the idea Bouckaert, who is a graduate that if you are going to be in of Stanford Law School, and the action, you have to own it,” invited him to visit and speak Walch said. “You can’t be on after the documentary, which the sidelines.”

Hetherington visited counchronicles the life of Hether-

“

tries like Afghanistan and Liberia during periods of civil war and bloodshed and captured events through photography and video.

One of his documentaries, which followed an Army platoon during its service in Afghanistan, was a 2011 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary and winner at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival in the documentaries category.

“Unlike so many war photographers, he engaged with the people he was interacting with,” Walch said. “He tried to help and work with the people he was interacting with instead of passively observing their actions.”

The screening and Q&A session will be held in Ahmanson Lecture Hall from 7 to 9 p.m. Attendees of the event must email receptionist Lynn Miller at lmiller@hw.com.

The film is also available on the “HBO Go” online movie streaming service.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF TED WALCH

BEHIND THE SCENES: Critically acclaimed photojournalist Tim Hetherington prepares to document soldiers in action in a picture of a promotional poster for a documentary of his life.

A6 News

The Chronicle

inbrief

Sept. 25, 2013

KHWS modifies DJ selection procedure Students sent in a record 80 applications for a DJ position on KHWS, the studentrun radio station. Due of the number of applications, KHWS will select a limited number of DJs. The application will be used to see what type of music the DJ likes to keep the music style consistent with last year.

Despite the number of available positions, the station is trying to include as much variety as possible.

“We want as wide a range of genres and DJs possible,” station manager Sydney Foreman ’14 said “This will encourage more people to listen and tune into the radio. We want to create consistency in DJs as well as views.”

—Cole Feldman

Students, teachers to present at JSPA Journalism teachers Kathleen Neumeyer and Jen Bladen and Chronicle staffers Mazelle Etessami ’14, David Gisser ’14, Jack Goldfisher ’14, Henry Hahn ’14, Eric Loeb ’14, Jensen Pak ’14 and Noa Yadidi ’14 will present at the first-ever Jewish Scholastic Press Association convention. It will take place Oct. 24-26 at B’nai David-Judea Congregation.

The JSPA was formed to provide a journalistic organization for students attending Jewish schools.

Neumeyer, Bladen and the students will present workshops on topics such as having courage to write about controversial stories, page design, photography, and multimedia.

—Pim Otero

Jazz players perform at Back to School Day Continuing an annual tradition, the Jazz Explorers performed on the quad on Backto-School Day, Saturday Sept.

21.

The band played “I Love You” by Cole Porter, “All the Things You Are” by Jerome Kern and “Billy’s Bounce” by Charlie Parker for parents as they arrived on campus and mingled before classes started.

“It was really fun to perform for all the parents,” Bridget Hartman ’15 said.

—Kyla Rhynes

Computer Science Club to teach Python Aaron Anderson ’14 and Daniel Palumbo ’14, leaders of the Computer Sciences club, will teach a series of after school introductory classes for the programming language Python staring in October.

These classes are for those already with programming experience wanting to learn a new language and students without any knowledge of programming at all.

“We are trying to get not just kids who love [programming] already, but also people who haven’t had the chance to attend [AP Computer Sciences] or don’t have time to fully commit a lot of their time to programming,” Anderson said.

—Kenneth Schrupp

SCOTT NUSSBAUM/CHRONICLE

Butteflies released in honor of Carr’s birthday SPREAD YOUR WINGS: Justin Carr’s ’14 father, Darell, speaks to students and teachrs outside of Feldman-Horn about Carr’s kind heart duting the butterfly release on his 17th birthday. His mother, Susan, comforts Molly Chapman ’14 as friends look on.

Commons, Huybrechts share hopes for new school year at first annual parent meeting

By Jack Goldfisher and Noa Yadidi

President Rick Commons and Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts told stories about the beginning of the school year and their hopes for the rest of the year to parents at the first Parents’ Association general meeting Sept. 18 in Saperstein Theatre.

Huybrechts, whose speech was entitled “Continuity of Care,” showed a PowerPoint presentation of slides of images that corresponded to stories that she shared with the parents.

She highlighted the new

one-to-one initiative being implemented in the seventh grade this year that will expand to the rest of the Middle School next year and the Upper School the following year.

“My point in all of this piece was that teachers have to make decisions about what works best for them in terms of teaching tools and pedagogy,” Huybrechts said about slides that showed students using technology such as computers as well as the traditional paper and pen. “Sometimes the computers are the best thing and sometimes just talking to the teacher is the best thing and sometimes you need

to give kids a choice when they want to write.”

Huybrechts also displayed the first issues of the Spectrum and the Chronicle, and talked about alumni who are professional journalists.

After discussing the annual Film Festival, Huybrechts lauded the work the Institute for Scholastic Sports Science and Medicine has been doing at the school. She also shared stories and discussed topics such as students who did summer internships, the upcoming workload survey and the this year’s school theme, “from caring comes courage.”

The meeting was Com-

mons’s first HWPA event, and the newly-invested president themed his speech around “The Magic of Teaching.”

“Huybrechts is left-brained and I’m right-brained,” Commons said. Huybrechts emphasized statistics and numbers more than Commons, whose remarks were hand-written going into the night.

Commons told stories about his time as an English teacher and his experiences since returning to HarvardWestlake.

“It was overwhelming and flattering that people would gather in such numbers to hear us talk,” Commons said.

Film teacher researches French director in Paris

By Marcella Park

Performing arts teacher Ted Walch spent a week in Paris during the summer researching French director Francois Truffaut’s “Les Quatre Cents Coups” at The Cinémathèque Française. He also walked the streets to visit sites where the film was shot.

“For a long time I’d wanted to know even more than I’d been able to find out in the research I’ve done that is available, and also, I really wanted to be in Paris, where, really, in spite of my age, I haven’t spent much time,” Walch said.

Walch has included this film in the Cinema Studies course since the course first started.

“I loved the film ever since I first saw it, when I was about the age of the kids that I teach, I think in 1960,” Walch said.

“Then years later, when I was putting together the Cinema Studies course, I knew that this film had to be a part of it.”

“Les Quatre Cents Coups,” or, in English, “The 400 Blows,” helped launch the French New Wave, which Walch called “one of the great movements

in film.”

Walch said he asked The Cinémathèque before he arrived there to prepare the documents he planned on examining that pertained to the film, including different versions of the script and letters by the director. He also spent some time at the Francois Truffaut Library, named after the film’s director.

Walch hired a translatorresearcher to work with him since he does not speak or read French, “embarrassingly so,” he said.

Walch said the biggest question he was researching was the influence the actorJean-Pierre Léaud, who played the central character when he was a teenager, had on the film.

Walch said he intends to write something from the research he has done.

“I’m not so much one for worrying about whether it gets published or not, but I will enjoy writing it, and I’ve already started to do some of that writing,” he said. “But I’ve realized that the more I work on this, the more I realize I need to know before I’m really

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF TED WALCH

MIDDAY IN PARIS: Ted Walch poses with his translator in front of The Cinémathèque Française, where Walch did research. ready to set down some ideas on paper in a really coherent way.”

Walch plans to return to Paris next summer to continue researching the film. The translator, Charlotte, he hired is still working on their project, and they are keeping in touch over email, he said.

One of his hopes for next summer is to interview Léaud, who is now 69 years old and reclusive, Walch said.

“I think I can get to him, so I’m going to try,” he said.

Walch said he most enjoyed going all over the city on foot to visit all of the places on the city streets where the film was shot.

“I mean, that sounds a

little weird because, obviously, things have changed greatly since 1959,” Walch said. “It’s like religious pilgrims who go to visit places where their religious leaders were born and died, so I felt like I was doing the stations, except it was about a film. It was fun.”

Walch’s week in Paris was the main focus of a longer trip around England and France.

He spent five days in London watching plays, three in Burgundy meeting a former student from his time teaching in Northern California, who will speak at a documentary screening at the Upper School Oct. 1, and two days in Oxford visiting a Harvard-Westlake graduate studying film there.

Sept. 25, 2013

hwchronicle.com/news

News A7

inbrief

SAAC sponsors dunk tank at Homecoming

The Student-Athlete Advisory Council will host a dunk tank during Homecoming on Oct. 5. SAAC shirts will also be sold next to the tank.

“We are having a dunk tank because we raise funds for our budget, use it as a time to sell shirts and for the students to enjoy,” Mintis Hankerson ’14 said.

Interested faculty can volunteer to sit in the tank. Last year science teachers Narea Park and Dietrich Schuhl were dunked.

—Sophie Kupiec-Weglinski

SCOTT NUSSBAUM/CHRONICLE

FAIR AND SQUARE: Alex Haney ’14 holds up a poster to advertises the Harvard-Westlake Film Festival in an effort to draw more film submissions, left. Frank Yeh ’14 demonstrates the functions of a robot that Robotics Club made last year to some students, right.

Clubs attract students at Activities Fair

By Jake Saferstein

Students walked around the quad to browse and sign up for clubs at Activities Fair during break Sept 16.

Each of the 72 clubs had a table set up where they displayed posters, sign-up sheets and often gave out treats as club leaders advertised to prospective members during the fair. The event is hosted annu-

ally by Prefect Council.

Clubs ranged from cultural clubs, like Indian Club and the Latino Culture Club, to math and science clubs, like Science Bowl and the Finance and Investment Club, to clubs supporting student outreach and activism, like Girls Learn International and the Environmental Club.

Some student organizations, like Community Council,

also had tables for students to sign up.

Jason Gabaee ’15, leader of the Students Against Distracted Driving Club, was excited about advertising his club’s cause during break. “[Distracted driving] is an often neglected issue that gets overlooked,” Gabaee said. “By shining light on it, we hope that we can save at least one life, and Activities Fair gets

people interested and hopefully compels people to join [our club].”

Students who weren’t representing a club at a table roamed the quad to sign up for clubs.

“I signed up for the Leading Business Visionaries Club, Robotics Club and Boxing Club, so I will try them all and see which ones I like the best,” Natanael Carlos ’16 said.

Publications win national journalism awards

By Kelly Loeb

Big Red, Chronicle, Spectrum and Vox Populi all recently won awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Asscoiation, the National Scholastic Press Association and Quill and Scroll.

Vox Populi won two Gold Circle awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. One for the sports feature titled “#winning” written by Alexander Ravan ’13 and another for the opening and closing spread design

by Charlotte Gordon ’12, Alexander Ravan ’13 and Christina Yang’ ’12.

Lizzy Thomas ’14 won a second place Gold Circle for sports writing for “No. 1 Baseball makes CIF run” in last year’s May issue of the Chronicle.

Sydney Foreman ’14 won a Gold Circle for design for a story called “Pretty, Please” in last year’s October issue.

Chronicle Online was Nussbaum ’14 won for overall awarded a Gold Circle Award design of last year’s Big Red for Alex McNab’s ’14 column magazine.

“Jet lag, culture lag,” from last Additionally, NSPA selectyear’s September issue about ed the 2012-2013 Spectrum as his experience in China for a a National Pacemaker Finalschool year abroad. ist.

“I’m glad that others had Four middle school newsas much fun reading it as I papers were named finalists, did writing and the winit,” McNab ’14 ners will be said. announced I’m glad that Mazelle at the NSPA Etessami ’14 convention others had as much and Henry in Boston in fun reading it as I had Hahn ’14 were November. also Gold Cir“ W e writing it.” cle recipients worked so —Alex McNab ’14 hard for the video last made about year, and I’m Senior Ring very excited Ceremony under the category to be recognized as a National “Video Feature Package.”

Pacemaker Finalist,” Alexa Big Red sports magazine Bowers ’16 said. also won two Gold Circles Caitlin Neapole ’16 also awards. won a Gold Circle for a photo Michael Aronson ’13 and that appeared in the Spectrum Luke Holthouse ’13 won for ta- called “Water Polo Goalie.” ble of contents design and ArNSPA selected Sarah onson, Holthouse and Grant Novicoff ’s ’14 “1 in 5: Students

“

on Financial Aid” from last year’s Novermber issue of the Chronicle as a finalist for the story of the year in the diversity category.

The story discusses some of the challenges students on financial aid face.

The story also won Second Best Writing in the California Newspapers Publishers Association.

“I originally wrote the story for my Chronicle class and didn’t know if it would ever run,” Novicoff said. “It’s really exciting that the story could win another big award.”

The Chronicle also received the George H. Gallup Award from the Quill and Scroll Society. George H. Gallup Award evaluates four different categories: coverage, writing and editing, visuals, policy guidelines and business guidelines.

The Chronicle was named a Gold Medalist newspaper

by CSPA with 967 out of 1,000 possible points.

Costume classes to visit downtown fashion district

By Leily Arzy

Theatrical Costume Design I-II students will take an optional field trip to downtown Los Angeles Sept. 26 to enhance their class projects.

Students will get materials for future projects and learn more about costume design. “[The] administration is really supportive of field trips.

They see a huge value in getting kids off campus and exposing them to the broader LA area,” costume design teacher Lisa Peters said.

Students from Peters’ Introduction to Theatrical Costume Design I–II class along with her directed studies students are all welcome to go on the trip.

“I’ve never been to the fabric district so I’m hoping it will be a really fun experience,” costume design student Marisa Hattler ’16 said. “We will also be going to an exhibition at Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, which should be very interesting.”

The group will leave at 8

a.m. and will return by 5 p.m. an exhibit on television cosThe group will visit tume design. many fabric stores, in“Costume Design cluding Michael Levin, is my favorite class Inc., where Peters usuand I am really excited ally buys most of her to go on the field trip fabrics. and see the exhibit at Students have the FIDM because I have option to buy fabgained an appreciation rics, trims and beads for how much work is for their projects put in to costume denathanson’s throughout the year. sign,” Emma Graham Lisa Peters The full group ’15 said. “Costumes of students will also really convey the stop by the Fashion Bookstore story and the time period of a that specializes on books on performance so it will be nice fashion, and FIDM, which has to see that in person.”

Meeting to inform about Rwanda trip Students and parents can learn more about a semesterbreak trip to Rwanda Oct. 3.

Students will explore investigative journalism and document the state of Rwanda after the mass genocide 20 years ago.

Friendship Tours World Travel will host the trip, planned from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2.

The trip will be led by visual arts department head Cheri Gaulke, Friendship Tours owner Alethea Paradis and Jeff MacIntyre, a free-lance producer and cameraman for KABC-TV. To join the trip, students must secure a spot by paying a deposit by Oct. 10.

—Benjamin Most

GSA changes name to broaden purpose The Gay-Straight Alliance representatives changed the club’s name to Gender Sexuality Awareness during their first meeting this year.

Since the terms gay and straight only encompass two types of people, club leaders decided to broaden the name to incorporate all genders, sexes, and sexual preferences, copresident Liza Woythaler ’14 said. The three co-presidents Levi Craske-Curtin ’14, Daniel Palumbo ’14 and Woythaler came up with the idea.

“I think the name change will allow people to recognize our club’s inclusiveness, as we accept and have accepted anyone who wants to join,” Woythaler said.

—Jivani Gengatharan

Middle schoolers to perform fall play The Middle School will perform “Midsummer/Jersey,” a modern version of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” as the fall theatrical production Nov. 15, 16 and 17.

“It’s basically a mashup of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘Jersey Shore,’” director Jim Doughan said. “It shows that nothing has changed in 450 years.”

Written by playwright Ken Ludwig, the play “makes the play more accessible to modern audiences but still maintains the integrity” of Shakespeare’s words, Doughan said.

—Enya Huang

The Chronicle

A8 News

Sept. 25, 2013

Senior debater ranks in Texas tournament

By Su Jin Nam

Debater Annie Kors ’14 won sixth speaker in the Greenhill Fall Classic, which was held in Greenhill, Texas, Sept. 16.

Kors dropped in octofinals, the round of sixteen, after going 5-1 in preliminary rounds.

Julie Engel ’14 dropped in the first round of elimination, after going 4-2. Tommy Choi ’14 went 4-2, but did not qualify for elimination rounds because of his speaker points.

Prior to the tournament in Texas, Kors also debated in a round robin tournament, where each competitor debates against all other competitors, and won third speaker based on speaker points.

From Sept. 13-15, novice debaters went undefeated, and

varsity debaters made semifinals in a tournament at Loyola High School.

In the novice division, Jesse Nadel ’17 and Connor Engel ’17 went undefeated; neither placed due to low speaker points.

“I feel confident going into my next one but if I want to win, I will have to work hard,” Engel said.

In the varsity division, Choi and William Gingold ’14 dropped in semifinals and octofinals, respectively.

In the tournaments, students debated whether “voting ought to be compulsory” in a democracy.

“I thought the team did great at Loyola and will continue to have a strong season,” Assistant Debate Coach Nate Zerbib-Berda said.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF PAVEK PRICHYSTAL

Homecoming dance kicks off week of Fanatic Fest activities • Continued from page A1

“We’re actually really happy it’s in the gym instead of being an off-campus event because the gym just kind of really pulls together that whole school spirit idea,” Sacks said.

“It’s not about going off-campus and having a dance; it’s about the formal that celebrates everything that’s going on around campus. It kind of ties it all together.”

Sacks said the prefects strove to create an entirely new event, aiming to combine old traditions and form new ones.

“This is an exciting thing,” President Rick Commons said, observing the procession.

“What can be more exciting than a homecoming formal?

I’ll be there.”

The Monday following the dance will kick-off the Fanatic Fest week with 80’s day and

students will be able to buy Jamba Juice in the quad. Tuesday will be “twins twosday,” Wednesday will be “wild, wild west” themed and Thursday will be “tacky tourist Thursday.” There will also be a photo booth set up on Thursday in front of Chalmers for students to take pictures in dressed in their tourist attire.

Prefect Council is still working with Community Council on possibly adding more activities in conjunction with the dress up days, prefect Rachel Persky ’15 said.

On Friday, at the culmination of Fanatic Fest, a pep rally in the quad will replace the traditional mandatory pep rally in the gym. Sophomores have been asked to dress up in red, juniors in white and seniors will be dressed in black for the spirit day. Head Fanatics will also be selling this year’s Fanatics T-Shirts

Record number of seniors earn semifinalist status • Continued from page A1

semifinalists.

In order to be qualify for finalist status, semifinalists will need to submit a high school transcript and a letter from their dean as well as plan to enroll full time in college in the fall of 2014 and receive SAT scores that confirm PSAT performance on a test including or prior to the Dec. 7 test date. The full application, including an essay regarding a significant influence and a list of extracurriculars, is accessible online with a National Merit login and is due Oct. 9.

Finalists will be notified Feb. 6.

“Typically we find that unless there has been a drastic change in course work or something has happened or the student chooses not to fill out the application, semifinalists become finalists,” Racanelli said. “It’s an honor, not

a monetary designation. There are, however, corporations and scholarships that support this.”

Racanelli and upper school dean Vanna Cairns both expected that this would not dramatically affect college admissions decisions.

“It’s a two-hour test,” Cairns said. “I’m not going to put too much stock into it.

This is a two-hour test, and this particular year, more kids than ever did well on this test.

It’s three and a half years as opposed to two hours.”

Four students were separately named National Achievement Semifinalists, a program designed to recognize black American high school students, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. One student was designated both a National Achievement Semifinalist and a National Merit Semifinalist.

“

AT THE PODIUM: Annie Kors ’14 speaks at the podium in the debate tournament. She won sixth speaker in the Greenhill Fall Classic Sept. 16, and won third in a round robin tournament just before it.

and are working with Prefect Council on bringing in a food truck as well. The Head Fanatics will also be emceeing during the special Friday break and teaching students new chants. Students will also vote on different designs for the Fanatics tank top.

“We’ve sort of noticed that people don’t really enjoy the large assembly,” Head Fanatic Jonathan Felker ’14 said.

“I mean, a lot of people think it’s funny, but it kind of comes down to certain groups of people that like it, athletes sort of enjoy it sometimes and people who participate in it have a good time, but there are a lot of people just sitting there having to deal with it, having to endure it.”

Prefect Council brought the idea to the Head Fanatics of not having a mandatory pep rally, which when the Fanatics heard was an option, they

We’re actually really happy it’s in the gym instead of being an off-campus event because the gym really pulls together that whole school spirit idea.”

—Ashley Sacks ’14 Head Prefect

agreed with.

“We don’t really want to force people to enjoy our product,” Felker said.

The Fanatics shirts this year will include a vertical “Fanatics 13-14” down the side of the front with the crest on a pocket on the front. The back will feature the slogan “can’t stop won’t stop” with a cartoon Wolverine leaning on the words.

“The tanks are more tailored toward what the people want,” Felker said. “The shirts are what we thought would be cool. We want to make something that people want.”

The Head Fanatics will give fall athletes pins at the Homecoming dance as a new tradition, Felker said.

“I’m really excited that

nathanson’s

we have [the dance],” Felker said. “I think a lot of people feel that way, that’s sort of the consensus on campus. Especially the underclassmen who have never had a dance before, I think it’s really cool for them.

It’s going to be really fun especially because this year I think the 10th, 11th and 12th graders are all pretty interconnected in that they all hang out, unlike previous years when we weren’t really connected in the same way.”

Homecoming will consist of athletic games, rides and food provided by the Parents’ Association. Homecoming will feature football, water polo and volleyball games in the lead up to the varsity football game vs.

Palisades High School at 7:30 p.m.

National Merit Semifinalists 54 seniors earned National Merit Semifinalist status, the most in school history. Five students were named National Achievement Semifinalists, one of whom achieved National Merit status as well.

National Merit: Anser Abbas Patrick Angelo Justin Bae Zachary Birnholz Zoe Bohn Jonathan Burns Garrett Cayton Sydney Cheong Eojin Choi Molly Cinnamon James Edwards Julie Engel Andrew Friedman Varun Gadh Jack Goldfisher Claire Goldsmith Oliver Goodman-Waters Henry Hahn

Alexander Haney Vincent Huang Tara Joshi Katherine Jung Matthew Kelson Peter Kim Benjamin Klein Annie Kors Alexia Le Jessica Lee Michelle Lee William Lee Gregory Lehrhoff Eric Lin Eric Loeb Matthew Lucas Sarah Novicoff Michael O’Krent

Jensen Pak Chelsea Pan Rayne Peerenboom Amita Pentakota Divya Siddarth Jonathan Sington Megha Srivastava Elizabeth Thomas Aidan Victor Bennett Victor Mane Williams Christina Woo Kirk Woo Hang Yang Frank Yeh Alec Zadikian Kevin Zhang Larry Zhang

National Achievement: Alexander Haney Alexander McNab

Morganne Ramsey Aiyana White

Miles Williams SOURCE: NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP CORPORATION GRAPHIC BY SCOTT NUSSBAUM AND JAKE SAFERSTEIN

Sept. 25, 2013

hwchronicle.com/news

News A9

Peer Support connects on retreat

By Sophie Kupiec-Weglinski

A total of 54 Peer Support leaders and trainees bonded in team-building exercises such as a ropes course and an egg drop during their annual retreat at Temescal Canyon Gateway Park Sept. 20-22.

The retreat was organized by school counselor Luba Bek and Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Kavita Ajmere.

Both planned to attend, but Bek became ill shortly before the retreat, leaving Assistant to the Head of Upper School Michelle Bracken and Ajmere to chaperone the event.

Students took a bus to the retreat after school Friday and returned at 9 A.M. Sunday.

Students played bonding games such as “CEO,” “Hiyah” and “Never Have I Ever”.

“It was a great opportunity for the group to get to know one another. And it was fun,” Bracken said.

A ropes course activity was included to foster team and trust building, useful abilities when leading Peer Support discussions.

PRINTED WITH PERMISION OF GWYNN POLLARD

TEAM BUILDING: Lili Cohen ’15, top left, concentrates as she paints a candle. Leaders and trainees, bottom left, socialize during the annual Peer Support retreat at Temescal Canyon Gateway Park. Shana Haddad ’14, right, climbs through the rope course.

“I enjoyed [Saturday] morning the most when we went on the ropes course and got to paint with one of the counselors,” Peer Support leader Jake Bracken ’14 said.

During the retreat, groups consisting of two trainees and two leaders were announced.

These groups were constructed by Peer Support coordinators Angus O’Brien ’14, Gaby Romano ’14, Max Rothman ’14 and Sophie Sunkin ’14.

The coordinators spent four hours determining which combination of leaders and trainees would make the best

groups.

After the announcement, the students gathered around a campfire and ate s’mores.

“I really enjoyed getting to know everyone and I think it will be a great year of Peer Support,” trainee Lili Cohen ’15 said.

The groups chosen will direct Peer Support conversations and discussions for the rest of the year.

“My favorite part would probably be getting to know people, juniors and seniors that you don’t really talk to at school,” Sunkin said.

Presidential Medal of Freedom to honor astronaut Sally Ride ’68

By Marcella Park

HARVARD-WESTLAKE ARCHIVES

SPACE PIONEER: Sally Ride ’68 gives a speech at Westlake School during a Women’s History Month assembly in an undated photo from a file documenting articles, photos and letters about the astronaut. Ride was both the first American female and youngest American to travel to outer space.

C

breaking news videos blogs

the Chronicle online hwchronicle.com archives

livestreaming

photo galleries

Sally Ride ’68, the first American woman and youngest American to travel to space, will be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the U.S. bestows on civilians.

She died in July 2012 of pancreatic cancer.

Ride will be among 16 recipients of the medal to be honored in a ceremony at the White House later this year.

Other recipients this year include former President Bill Clinton and talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

Ride attributed her first interest in science to Westlake School life science teacher

Elizabeth Mommaerts. During her three years at Westlake, she was on a partial tennis scholarship and was a nationally ranked player. After Westlake, she attended Swarthmore College for three semesters, and then spent some time as a professional tennis player. Eventually, she returned to school, this time at Stanford, and continued there until she earned her Ph.D. She then joined NASA. Her first space flight was in 1983.

“As a role model to generations of young women, she advocated passionately for science education, stood up for racial and gender equality in the classroom and taught students from every background that there are no limits to

what they can accomplish,” a White House representative said. “Ride also served in several administrations as an advisor on space exploration.”

Ride returned to both Westlake and Harvard-Westlake to speak at Women’s History Month assemblies. At Harvard-Westlake in 1997, she spoke about her feelings when she was in space.

In 2001, she started Sally Ride Science to motivate students, especially girls, toward careers in science.

“This year’s honorees have been blessed with extraordinary talent, but what sets them apart is their gift for sharing that talent with the world,” President Barack Obama said in a statement.

The Chronicle

A10 News

Sept. 25, 2013

Director Reitman ’95 to host installment of annual interview series

By Jacob Goodman

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF LEO LAU

Chinese Cultural Club holds welcome luncheon

CONTINUING THE LEGACY: The Chinese Cultural Club held its first “Get Acquainted Party”of the year Sept 8. The event was held at the home of members Bernadette and Brad Huang (Isabelle ’19). Members gave speeches to welcome families and discussed the club’s upcoming events.

“Speaking of Movies,” the Harvard-Westlake interview series that features director Jason Reitman ‘95, will have its sixth annual presentation Oct. 9. at 7 p.m in Ahmanson Lecture Hall with a guest who was unnamed at press time.

The series is co-produced by upper school visual arts department head Cheri Gaulke and visual arts teacher Kevin O’Malley.

“The kind of people that Jason invites are often not people that are really well established, but more cutting edge new talent,” Gaulke said.

“Jason has an incredible knack for knowing who’s going to be the next hot property. Often times Reitman will suggest people he would like to interview and O’ Malley and I, who both produce the presentation, wonder, ‘Who?’” The interview series started in 2008 when Reitman interviewed Academy Awardwinning screenwriter Diablo

Cody who wrote the feature film “Juno.” The interview is open to Harvard-Westlake students and parents.

Reitman “is a great interviewer,” Gaulke said. “He makes it so fun. He digs down deep and has people share stories in a way that is very thought-provoking and information giving but is also just extremely entertaining.”

Gaulke and O’Malley also film Reitman’s interviews and post them on Youtube so that they can reach a broader audience. “[An interviewer at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth] thanked me for producing ‘Speaking of Movies,’” Gaulke said. “They said for people who can’t afford film school: thank you for putting those videos up online. It’s amazing when you go out into the world and something that you’re doing at your school is actually helping people somewhere else in another state be exposed to advanced film writing and producing.”

Computer science course enrollment increases 72 percent

An expansion in computer science program size has caused changes in curriculum and the creation of the Computer Science Club.

By Sarah Novicoff

Paula Evans attributes the trend to three factors.

Flipping through a 2013“First of all, handheld 2014 curriculum guide, Lau- technology makes the utilra Campbell ’16 landed on ity of computer science perAP Computer Science A, a vasive,” Evans said. “Second, college-level programming the tools to develop code are course that teaches object- now easier to use. For exoriented software design as ample, on Tumblr, people well as Java. Campbell had are actually creating their taken programming outside own website. Simple social of school, but this year was networking tools have made the first that it fit into her people see that it’s fun to get schedule. that design“I’m doing power. ing computer Third, a culscience betural shift cause it’s alhas made I’m doing ways intercomputer computer science ested me and science popit seems like ular.” because it’s always a good skill The inbeen interested me to have, given crease in and it seems like a how much the last our generaeight years good skill to have tion relies on is also due given how much our technolog y,” to a change Campbell in the apgeneration relies on said. proach of technology.”

C a m p the departbell is one —Laura Campbell ’16 ment. of almost 90 Ac c o r d students ening to the rolled in AP Computer Sci- curriculum guide, the preence A this year, a 72 percent requisite for enrollment is increase from last year’s ap- permission of the departproximately 50 students. ment, which generally allows This past year marked those who want to take the the largest increase the math class and do the work to endepartment has seen since roll, as opposed to 10 years they began tracking the en- ago when middle school prorollment in 2005. Since then gramming was necessary. the number of students enSome students still take rolled in the class has almost middle school programquintupled from 18 students ming and use the skills they to 88. learned in AP Computer SciMath department head ence A.

“

SCOTT NUSSBAUM/CHRONICLE

THE NEW ERA OF CODING: Computer science teacher Jason Fieldman ’99 speaks to parents of students enrolled in AP Computer Science A about the changing class curriculum and new topics.

Higher enrollment sparks new club

By David Woldenberg

Computer Science is a rapidly growing discipline at the Upper School. This year, roughly one fourth of the sophomore class was enrolled in AP Computer Science A. Students are attracted to the subject and, until recently, only the same set courses had been taught, math department head Paula Evans said.

Last year, a group of Evans’ students approached her with concepts they wanted to learn in computer science. As a result, Evans filed for a new directed study. Besides this experimental directed study, the computer science club will being teaching classes in Python as an extracurricular. “[A group of kids] who are going to be seniors said, ‘look, we just took AP Comp Sci A in our Junior year, we’re going to take Design and Data Structures, [but] we can’t

take Advanced Topics. We press interest in computer want a course where we can science are “hobbyists.” These do some interactive hobbyists, Evans web programming,” said, have taken a vaEvans said. riety of computer sciComputer science courses outside ence is getting more of school and expect popular among stua form of continudents and adapting ation. Often times to the influx in stuthe level of expertise dents, according to and interest of these Evans. At the end of hobbyists is more last year, math and advanced than the nathanson’s computer science school courses.

Paula Evans teacher Jacob HazBoth Evans and ard left the school, Fieldman have proso Evans hired Jason Field- posed ideas for new courses. man ’99 to act as a specialized Fieldman has proposed a computer science teacher. course he calls “HW StartFieldman teaches one Ad- up.” This course would advanced Topics course, three dress organization, solve legal Design and Data Structures issues and teach product decourses and one Precalculus: sign and teamwork.

Trigonometry and Function Fieldman says the class scourse. Fieldman has had would be an opportunity for experience developing iPhone students to work on a proapplications and working for gramming project on their multiple online companies. own with limitedteacher A lot of students who ex- oversight.

Sept. 25, 2013

hwchronicle.com/News

Seniors in SSR to design, conduct individual scientific experiments

By Claire Goldsmith

In a few weeks, they’ll enter the lab wearing protective safety goggles, gloves and rubber lab coats, taking every possible precaution. Drip by drip, they’ll mix a compound with acid, but if they move too fast, the dangerous mixture will explode.

Mac Colquhoun ’14 and Andrew Friedman ’14 will brave the hazards of the reaction with the goal of synthesizing graphene in their Studies in Scientific Research class.

Graphene, a single-atom-thick form of graphite, has many potential applications ranging from circuitry to desalination of ocean water.

“We wanted to do this because there’s a lot of unknowns,” Friedman said.

“We’ll feel like we’re on the edge of science.”

SSR, supervised by physics teacher Antonio Nassar, provides seniors with lab space and a $500 budget to pursue a research project of their own design. Every year, students create experiments in diverse scientific fields and write papers detailing their findings.

Although there are many laboratories currently focused on graphene, no one has yet discovered a way to cheaply synthesize mass quantities of it. Colquhoun and Friedman will follow the approach

of UCLA professor RichHe signed up for SSR speard Kaner, who presented cifically to study these reachis work with graphene to tions.

Harvard-Westlake students, “One thing that I’m going Sept. 9. The pair spoke with to focus on this year is tryKaner after his speech and ing to come up with a mathplan to communicate with him ematical description of what’s throughout the year. happening at the surface,” he “We’re just lucky that he said. “At least at eye level, they came to speak,” Friedman appear to have this fractal gesaid. “He’s the one who got us ometry, but as of now no one’s interested in really done [graphene].” in-depth reWithin a search on few weeks, using microsWe wanted to do they hope to copy to see this because there’s a lot if that fracsynthesize graphene via tal geometry of unknowns. We’ll feel a hazardousholds at lowlike we’re on the edge of er levels.” ly exothermic reaction A b b a s science.” and a DVD will refurbish —Andrew Friedman ’14 the school’s burner.

Each trial e l e c t r o n using Kaner’s scanning mimethod will only cost around croscope, which he says has $5, Friedman said. been “out of commission” for “Our goals are more like the past few years, to examine steps than an actual project these potential inner fractals. goal,” Friedman said. “The “A lot of the year is going absolute end goal would be to to be spent figuring out how to build a graphene micro-super- work it, and that’s going to be capacitor. As of now, our goal worthwhile just to get that up is to make a sizeable amount and running,” he said. of graphene.”

Fractals are used in carWhile in AP Chemistry diac analysis and diagnostic last year, Anser Abbas ’14 read imaging, and even cell phone a scientific abstract describing components are shaped like fractal patterns on the surface fractals to improve reception. of self-organizing chemical re“Learning the math’s goactions, but lacked the time or ing to be hard, but I’m pretty environment to further pur- excited about it,” Abbas said. sue the subject.

“It’s a class I look forward to

“

all the time, and I think the enjoyment of it is in the challenge.”

Ben Greene ’14 and Jacqueline Ridgley ’14 wanted to recreate an ancient machine, so they searched online until they found a Greek device that inspired them both.

“I have this fascination with mechanical devices,” Greene said. “We were just looking at Wikipedia and thought, ‘That looks cool. We want to do that!’”

The pair will research and build a replica of an ancient Greek mechanism called the antikythera, which was used to track planetary orbits.

Scientists estimate that the antikythera was created around 100 B.C., when Greek astronomers knew of the existence of only five planets and believed all celestial bodies revolved around the earth. By turning a crank on the front of the antikythera, the Greeks could see the exact position of the planets on any date.

“It’s basically an ancient planetarium,” Greene said.

The duo plans to use the school’s three-dimensional printer to create the machine’s gears. So far, it only exists in the form of diagrams on the pages of Greene’s sketchbook.

“The actual process of bringing this into fruition, not just sketches in a book, is the hardest part,” Greene said.

News A11

NATHANSON’S

PURSUIT OF SCIENCE: Mac Colquhoun ’14, top, Andrew Friedman ’14, Anser Abbas ’14, Ben Greene ’14 and Jacqueline Ridgley ’14 will design their own experiments for their Studies in Scientific Research class.

C HRONICLE the harvard-westlake

Los Angeles • Volume XXIII • Issue II • Sept. 25, 2013 • hwchronicle.com

Editors in Chief: Jack Goldfisher, Noa Yadidi Managing Editors: Claire Goldsmith, Sarah Novicoff, Jensen Pak, Patrick Ryan Executive Editors: Julia Aizuss, Lizzy Thomas

Opinion The Chronicle • Sept. 25, 2013

editorial

Presentations Editors: Mazelle Etessami, Sydney Foreman, Emily Segal Sports Editor: Grant Nussbaum News Managing Editors: Elizabeth Madden, Lauren Sonnenberg News Section Heads: Sophie Kupiec-Weglinski, Nikta Mansouri, Jake Saferstein, Jessica Spitz News Assistants: Justine Chen, Cole Feldman, Kristen Gourrier, Eugenia Ko, Jonah Ullendorff Opinion Managing Editors: Beatrice Fingerhut, Kyla Rhynes Opinion Section Heads: Haley Finkelstein, Kenneth Schrupp Opinion Assistants: Alexa Bowers, Kelly Riopelle Features Managing Editors: Eojin Choi, Morganne Ramsey, Lauren Siegel Features Section Heads: Carly Berger, Marcella Park, David Woldenberg Features Assistants: Angela Chon, Sacha Lin, Benjamin Most, Su Jin Nam, Lauren Rothman A&E Managing Editors: James Hur, Alexander McNab A&E Section Heads: Leily Arzy, Zoe Dutton A&E Assistants: Sharon Chow, Siddharth Kucheria, Kelly Loeb, Pim Otero Sports Managing Editors: Lucy Putnam, Sam Sachs Sports Section Heads: Elijah Akhtarzad, Mila Barzdukas, Jordan Garfinkel, Tyler Graham Sports Assistants: Bennett Gross, Caitlin Neapole, Jonathan Seymour, Henry Vogel, Audrey Wilson Chief Copy Editors: Jivani Gengatharan, Enya Huang, Jessica Lee Managing Editors of Chronicle Multimedia: Henry Hahn, Eric Loeb Art Director: Jacob Goodman Chief Photographer: Scott Nussbaum Ads

and

Business Manager: Tara Stone

Chronicle Online Webmasters: David Gisser, Josh Shapiro Adviser: Kathleen Neumeyer

The Chronicle is the student newspaper of Harvard-Westlake School. It is published nine times per year. Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the seniors on the Editorial Board.

Letters to the editor may be submitted to chronicle@hw.com or mailed to 3700 Coldwater Canyon, Studio City, CA 91604.

Letters must be signed and may be edited for space and to conform to Chronicle style and format. Harvard-Westlake has an enrollment of 870 10th through 12th grade students. The Chronicle is also distributed at the Middle School which has 727 7th through 9th grade students.

Stories go through a rigorous editing process and are rewritten by the writers listed on the byline or with additional reporting credits.

BEATRICE FINGERHUT/CHRONICLE

Take a moment to think

School is a place for thinking. You wrack your brain for the right formula during an AP Physics test, you pick the most insightful point you can contribute to a discussion in English, you figure out the shade of red that will perfectly complement the green in the painting you’re working on in your Drawing and Painting class. Home is the place to throw on a pair of sweatpants, sit back, relax and let your eyes glaze over as you scroll down your Facebook newsfeed.

So why do we stop thinking as soon as we step on the quad? It makes sense that we should still be thoughtful and conscious of our actions after thanking our teachers and leaving the classroom. But the remnants of our meals that constantly litter the tables prove otherwise.

The trash on the quad is a product of mindlessness, not maliciousness. What happens isn’t a crime — we sit down at a table with friends, eat and rush off to class next period, leaving a forgotten water bottle or sandwich container behind. That’s why it should be easy to fix. The past year, however, has shown that the signs fixed to each table are ineffective reminders, raising ire instead of action.

The latest iteration of the sign tries to humanize the problem by naming maintenance staff Gregorio Hernandez in its plea to the student body to pick up after themselves. Yet we

still reacted with the usual defacements, which were all the more insulting because instead of insulting the message and the administration who wrote it, we insulted an innocent bystander in the process.

The trash problem isn’t new. There’s a reason only the Middle School has the campus-wide clean-up program SQUID — when the administration tried to institute it at the Upper School years ago, students refused to show up on the day they were supposed to attend.

The solution to our problem doesn’t lie in any official, administrative effort; whether it’s SQUID or the signs, that much is clear. As upper schoolers, we like to think we’re more mature and can take care of ourselves without interference, so we reflexively object to any impositions made upon us, even when they make sense. But we can’t reserve that privilege without the evidence to back it up.

The solution to our problem lies in us. After all, we are more mature; we can take care of ourselves without interference. All we need to do is retain the mindset we need in the buildings that surround the quad: just think. Before rushing off to class, scan the table, find one of the many trashcans or recycling bins nearby, remind your friend if necessary. It’s not hard, and it’s probably the easiest thinking you’ll do all day.

Appreciate the opportunity Let’s give a hand to Homecoming Formal and to the prefects and administration members who made it happen. This Saturday, Sept. 28, 10th, 11th and 12th graders will get to come together and celebrate in a way we haven’t as a school in three years — and that’s pretty great.

So let’s appreciate it by not blowing it. Learn from the mistakes of semiformals past and hold up our end of the deal. This is a chance to take individual responsibility. Messing up here could mean losing prom, seniors, and it will definitely mean losing anything like this in the future.

More importantly, though, it could mean losing the trust of the administrators who put themselves on the line for us, a pretty big price to pay for one out-of-control afterparty or drunken limo.

In the hustle and bustle of school life, we sometimes forget to enjoy the high school experience. We attend a college prep school, and it’s all too easy to lose the present while planning for the future. So have a (safe) fun Saturday, admire how different Taper Gym looks and try to score a dance with the Wolverine.

Sept. 25, 2013

hwchronicle.com/opinion

Opinion A13

Is ‘Breaking Bad’ breaking me?

By Nikta Mansouri

I

JACOB GOODMAN/CHRONICLE

A new take on formal

By Zoe Dutton

T

he last Semiformal took place at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in Hollywood in 2011. The dance the year before was at the California Market Center in Downtown’s fashion district, and the year before that was at the Sheraton Universal Hotel. In contrast, this year’s Homecoming Formal will take place in Taper Gymnasium.

I am not complaining about the change in venue; personally, I am grateful to have any formal at all. Plenty of high schools don’t think twice about hosting their prom, much less a dance, in the gym. I am just surprised (and a little impressed) by how remarkably few students

seem to have noticed this fairly important difference, particularly given the taste for sophistication and luxury that many at Harvard-Westlake have.

I would also like to give the administration a round of applause for its skillful handling of a very delicate situation. They have satisfied both sides without completely fulfilling the demands of either. They have given the students what they want — a formal — while implementing restrictions to ensure that it doesn’t spiral out of control.

In some respects there is relatively little difference between formal and last year’s White-Out dance. White-Out was spottily attended, partic-

ularly by upperclassmen, yet formal has been a hot topic for weeks among all grades.

Probably the most significant and attractive change, especially for us girls, is the return to formal attire. The allowing of party buses and limos, which were banned at White-Out, is also a welcome modification.

Perhaps with time students will be able to attend a formal dance in a location other than the one where they run laps during physical education. If not, it is hardly a momentous loss. The important thing is that we enjoy our high school experiences like formal while we can, and try not to get side-tracked by the details.

t’s three o’clock in the morning on a Tuesday. I have an unfinished math assignment lying on my desk, but I’m in bed. I’m not sleeping and I’m not even trying to sleep. My laptop is open, Netflix is running, my heart is pounding. It must be the meth.

I should clarify that I’m not actually high on meth or anything, but am watching “Breaking Bad.” It’s the ninth episode of the fifth season and I simply cannot believe what is happening in front of my eyes. I still have six more episodes to watch to catch up to everyone else. Seven more until the series finale.

3:32 a.m. Should I start another episode? Should I do my math homework? Should I sleep? I spend 10 minutes contemplating what to do, but most of my thoughts are plagued with the episode’s plot twists. I realize that there’s no way I’m falling asleep tonight.

I know I’ll regret it tomorrow, but right now, it’s all about getting my fix. I no longer care about my health, my family or my friends because my addiction has already ruined me.

3:45 a.m. I press “next episode.” I already regret this decision, if you can even call it a decision at this point. I’m only compelled by the thought of getting more. I’ve lost my free will. But I don’t care because the episode has started and I’m held captive by Walter White’s newest scheme.

4:31 a.m. If I go to sleep now I can get two hours of sleep I think to myself. Or I could continue watching and fall deeper into this pit that is my “Breaking Bad” addiction. I have no frees tomorrow and a totally incomplete trig assignment. Which brings up

Don’t wait for Career Day

By Claire Goldsmith

A

t one of the countless colleges I visited, the tour guide described the university’s engineering school. I was pretty tuned out, thinking I would never need to know what it offered since I had no interest in the field.

He then outlined the annual project where engineers solve a real-life problem — in this example, they designed a playground for handicapped children using sustainable materials.

I was immediately intrigued by the program — I thought that sounded incredibly interesting, and in exactly the way I enjoy applying math and science to real situations.

The problem, though, came with my second reaction. It was only the summer before my junior year, but almost instantly after I felt that initial rush of excitement, I worried that it was too late. I’d already chosen my classes for the next year,

I hadn’t been doing engineering internships (shout-out to my last column!) and I had no idea what engineering even was.

As a matter of fact, I still really don’t know. I’m enjoying my physics class this year, but every day I look around the room and see the kids who know they’ll be majoring in biomedical engineering and chemical engineering and electrical engineering and I wonder — did I miss that day?

The day they explained to us what engineering was?

Many of my classmates seem set on what they plan to do with their lives, and they’re already taking the classes they need to get there, but I wish that I’d known more about so many of these options before I had to start narrowing down my own choices.

Right now, it feels like on every test I take and every application I fill out, I have to write down exactly what I

plan to do with my future. I’m defining my path more specifically, yet at the same time it seems like doors that would lead to other possible futures are closing all around me.

People say that high school is a time for experimentation and figuring out what you want to be, but it doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of wiggle room anymore.

I never had that third grade career day, the one where moms and dads come in to explain to the class what their jobs entail.

If I’d known how you become an engineer and what you do, my entire life might be different. And it’s not just engineering. What does an investment banker do? A unit production manager? A contractor? If I knew what one did, would I be spending my time trying to become an epidemiologist instead?

Most of us understand what our parents and family friends do for a living. That

the question - what’s more important? Math homework or sleep? I choose another episode.

5:17 a.m. I hate myself now. Why am I doing this to myself? It’s junior year. Most of my time should be going towards getting good grades.

If I’m not doing work, I should be getting sleep, like my dean told me.

Yet I’ve prioritized Breaking Bad over homework and sleep. I’m sure there’s some psychological reason as to why I’m avoiding doing work and how deep down it means I don’t really want to go to college. But honestly, I think it’s just because Vince Gilligan has created one of the most addictive shows ever.

11:47 a.m. I sit (slouch, really) in math class, praying Jeff Snapp doesn’t check my homework today because I was up all night watching TV. I’ve been on the verge of falling asleep the whole day, and I’ve barely paid attention in any of my classes. A majority of my thoughts are about the show. What’s Walt’s next move? Is my favorite character going to get shot next week? Will Aaron Paul still be as cute? I need rehab.

I really don’t know if it’s more important to get sleep or finish my homework, but I do know that doing things you want to do is important.

Sure, it’s really detrimental if I make a habit of never sleeping and never finishing my homework to watch a show I really love. But to maintain my sanity throughout such a stressful year, I need an outlet like “Breaking Bad.” Five more days till the show is over. I’ll probably cry and mourn for a week, and then move on to Mad Men.

We’re expected to have our lives planned out, but the school should help us explore the wide range of options before we have to choose.

group, though, is just a small sample of the wide variety of career options — there are entire fields I’ve never been exposed to and might have found fascinating.

Through the school’s Junior Career Day program, I spent a day in June at a government branch and was inspired by the people I met and the lives they described.

But by that time, I’d already had to significantly narrow down and define my future interests. I think we should be exposed to a wider variety of paths earlier on, say in middle school.

For example, students could receive an email each week in which someone would describe his or her particular profession.

The people in the program would explain generally what their jobs are, what they do in a typical day or week and how they got there —­their major, if they went to graduate school, how they climbed up

the ladder.

Ideally, if enough students wanted to learn more, this engineer/creative director/ urban planner would come in and answer questions during Activities period. Perhaps it could be on a more regular basis, with one or two guest speakers a month, depending on students’ interest.

I think a program like this would make a much bigger impression on a middle schooler than on a third grader. No one would force students to read these weekly emails, but, by taking advantage of such a program, they could be exposed to possibilities they never knew existed.

Since we have to make class selections and pick college programs or majors now, we should be as informed as possible by the time we reach the Upper School.

Let us peek through as many doors as we can before we choose the one we’ll go through.

A14 Opinion

The Chronicle

Sept. 25, 2013

Don’t stereotype my identity

By Alex McNab

I

am mixed race, or, at least, I am trying to be. It is not easy when everyone around me expects me to be black.

I walk around school with a red, black and green Africa necklace hanging down to my belly and Rasta-colored sunglasses on my head, so how could I not be Afro-centric is what people think, and they rarely seem to understand when I tell them that yes, I am black, somewhat, yes I do love West African culture, but no, I do not consider myself an African-American.

More often than not, my racial identity seems to offend people, especially black people.

In fact, last weekend at Ring Ceremony, I had one black mom yell to me from across the bleachers that I was “denying myself ” by refusing to be in a picture with all the other black seniors, making the argument that it would be hypocritical for me to take a picture with the kids from my elementary school and not take one with the black kids at Harvard-Westlake.

That woman was wrong because black is not myself and neither is being mixed.

Race is not something that I am proud of, nor is it essential in defining who I am because it is not something that I have accomplished, but rather something that has happened to me. The only reason I am black is because my father decided to have a child with a woman whose ancestors had a high concentration of melanin in their bodies.

What do my father’s choice and my mother’s melanin have to do with me?

Nothing.

Being a student at Westside Neighborhood School, my elementary school, on the other hand, is something that

I can mark as being one of my academic achievements.

However, living in a city with a tradition of assuming that if one looks a certain way one must be a certain way, it is a hopeless effort to try to convince people of the separation between the color and content of a person.

It is just sad to see that so many black people, who not so long ago did their best to prove that we are not what we look like, are buying into the idea that looking black is being black and that to deny what seems to them an undeniable racial truth is to consciously choose to turn away from oneself.

In the past, one was told one’s race by others, and that was just the way it was. Society determined what color you were, but I like to think that in today’s world, we have the freedom to choose for ourselves which groups we identify with. I have nothing against black pride or gay pride or any feeling of dignity for being a part of a category.

It is only when people are forced to feel pride for categories that they have not joined out of their own free will that I begin to take issue.

Me is a word that has different definitions for different individuals, and so, unlike other words, it cannot be universally defined.

If you try to describe what it means to be me, most likely, you will get it wrong because no one but me knows who me is or what I am, and, even then, we still may not be completely sure of who we are.

I have thought long and hard about my racial identity, and I finally know that I am a mixed-race individual, and I always will be…except for on my college applications, but that is a story for another article.

JACOB GOODMAN/CHRONICLE

Teachers don’t bite, I promise

By Jack Goldfisher

I

can’t speak with any conviction about much of anything that happened in the ancient Greek acropolises and I don’t know any Greek letters beyond what we’ve been forced to learn for math. One thing I do know about the goings-on of Athens in the 400s and 300s BC is that Plato and Aristotle, the two parts of the most famous student-teacher relationship in history, were great friends. The relationship between these two men, who shared a 43-year age difference, extended far beyond that of instructor and pupil.

One of the opportunities we’re afforded at HarvardWestlake is a chance to learn from some of the smartest and most interesting people we’re likely to meet throughout our lives. Not only are our teachers knowledgeable about their respective fields of study, but many are just flat-out interesting and great conversationalists. It’s this luxury, and my opinion that my peers and I don’t take enough advantage of it, that makes me write

what will be the most ostensibly dweeby statement I’ve published in my time on The Chronicle: make friends with your teachers.

I’m not advocating going in to department offices daily or putting an apple on your teacher’s desk every morning, but if you have a subject or class that you’re particularly interested in, it’ll probably be a worthwhile experience to talk to your teacher about your thoughts or ask them a question that’s been itching at you.

Don’t be disingenuous or attempt to force a relationship that isn’t there, but a solid friendship outside of class can enrich your discussions or lessons in the classroom. It may be somewhat intimidating to seek out a friendship with someone who is grading you and who might have as much as 50 years of life experience on you, but once you’ve established a connection beyond the few words you might exchange after class every other day, there’s great potential if your personalities

seem to jive well together.

The father of a good friend of mine, let’s call him Tony, had a Latin teacher in high school who we’ll call Mr. Deinard who is, to this day, one of his closest friends. The two have even traveled together.

It may be because there’s some premature senior year nostalgia worming its way into my brain, but I’m going to want to be able to call up some of my teachers from high school in a few years and have a real, meaningful chat with them over dinner.

Not every student is Aristotle, and not every teacher is Plato, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t follow the example they set and forge strong bonds with our educators or with our students.

Take a free period and stroll side by side, draped in robes, with a teacher in a nonexistent Michelangelo piece, through The School of Studio City and contemplate “The Great Gatsby,” particle motion, Renaissance art or the Cold War. Oh, and watch out for Diogenes on the stairs.

Staying connected through Harvard-Westlake

By Kyla Rhynes

E

arlier this month, I had a very personal and inspiring conversation with HarvardWestlake trustee Joni Hamilton.

Upon discovering she was an alumna of Westlake school, I was immediately curious about her own experience being a black girl at HarvardWestlake, and in my eagerness, I tracked down alumni administrator Janeice Richard to get in touch with her.

We had only met one time prior to what was, particularly for me, a highly anticipated phone call, and yet as Hamilton and I spoke during my fifth period free, I felt that we had a connection that could only have been forged over a long span of time.

Throughout our conversation, she was quick to offer me advice for the future and encouragement for the

remainder of my last year at Harvard-Westlake. What I thought would be a very formal and possibly rigid tale of her years in private school ended up feeling like a very relaxed pep talk with a close and endearing family member.

I left that conference room that day with an entirely different perspective on life and a strong appreciation for the school I’ve called home for the past three years. Hamilton may not even know it, but every last story she told and every anecdote she offered, I felt I needed to hear. I don’t doubt that God himself made sure I got those words of wisdom.

During my last year at Harvard-Westlake, I often find myself reflecting on the past years and thinking of all the great things the school has done for me. Besides giving me one of the best educa-

tions in the country, I think it has helped me to better understand my black heritage and connect with other black people. Now, for those of you who have a hard time comprehending how this is, you must understand a little something about me: with the help of scholarship programs, I was thrust into the private school system at an early age, the first of my five siblings to never have gone to public school and the second to ever go to private school.

For a while, being considered a minority was almost an understatement for me, considering that from junior kindergarten until fifth grade, I was the one and only African-American in my entire grade (thankfully, we received two new mixed race students in sixth grade).

Still, when I say HarvardWestlake has helped me con-

nect with my own people and heritage, I don’t necessarily mean through exposing me to more black people in an academic setting. Certainly, given the class sizes, I see more people like me walking around on campus, and that still blows my mind all on its own.

But with my background, I was never given a precedent of how to go about life at a predominantly white school.

Harvard-Westlake offered me the opportunity to network and make connections with alumni and faculty, and it’s these types of opportunities that allowed me to hear personal stories and receive sound advice from people who have been in similar situations. Furthermore, with clubs such as the Black Leadership and Culture Club that give informative school-wide assemblies for Black History Month, I learn something new

about my roots every year, directly from the mouths of some of the most successful African-Americans of and before my generation.

As a senior and one of the leaders of BLACC, I feel it’s my duty to emphasize how lucky students are to be at a place that makes an effort to accommodate all cultures, traditions, races and sexual orientations. Even in comparing my Harvard-Westlake experience with Hamilton’s, I see how much growth the school has achieved through the years. I look forward to staying connected to the school after my graduation, and maybe in the future, I’ll be the one a curious student calls when they’re looking for advice on how to survive Harvard-Westlake. Just like Hamilton, I’ll answer the phone with a smile and gladly share my story.

Sept. 25, 2013

hwchronicle.com/opinion

Opinion A15

quadtalk

The Chronicle asked:

“What do you think can be done to help the trash problem on campus?”

“Do you think that students pick up their trash less at the Upper School than at the Middle School?”

“Showing a video of the maintenance staff cleaning up trash could be a great way to demonstrate the problem.”

449 students weighed in on the Chronicle poll

—Drew Mirman ’15

249

Yes

200

No “Teachers should give more penalties if they see a student leave their trash out. It could be a trash system just like our tardy system.”

—Spencer Perryman ’15

“In your opinion, are the signs on the table in the quad the most effective to date?”

“One way to improve the problem could be having a plastic bowl on each table where students can put their trash and at the end of every day it can be emptied.”

—Malanna Wheat ’14

Yes 146 students

No 303 students

“The school should try to put responsibility on the kids as opposed to pressuring them by using sarcasm or pity.”

—Myles Pindus ‘15

reportcard

A

A-

Football team starts the season with a winning streak of 4-0.

New online forum for resolving absences has been released.

B+

New iHW app was released to students with iPhones and Androids.

C-

More than half of the upper school deans were absent last week to attend a college counselor conference.

F

New signs on tables in the quad were defaced.

449 students weighed in on the Chronicle poll

“Are you planning on attending the Homecoming formal?”

428 students weighed in on the Chronicle poll

Yes

No

226

Haven’t Decided 88

114

“What are you most excited for at the formal?”

“Being with my friends will be a great way to spend the night. I’ve never been to a formal, so it will be cool to experience something new.”

—Jonah Goldman ’16

“I’m most excited that we are having a formal in general. Having it again will be a fun opportunity to let loose.”

—Gabriel Jenkinson ’16

“We haven’t had a formal since my freshman year and I think this is a great way to bring it back.”

—Samantha Garfield ’14 PHOTOS BY KENNETH SCHRUPP/CHRONICLE

exposure

A16

1

2

Sept. 25, 2013

Senior year has a nice ring to it

The class of 2014 received rings or pins to commemorate senior year at the annual Ring Ceremony on Ted Slavin Field Sept. 15. President Rick Commons and senior prefects delivered speeches, and the Chamber Singers performed during the ceremony.

3

5

7

RITES OF PASSAGE:

8

1. Senior prefect Oliver Goodman-Waters ’14 delivers a humorous speech about the school’s coat of arms.

2. The class of 2014 listens to President Rick Commons’ hopes for the upcoming year.

3. Kristen Goldberg ’14 shakes Head of Upper School Audrius Barzdukas’ hand before receiving her ring.

4. Chamber Singers provide musical accompaniment during the ceremony, singing “Mungu ni Pendo, an African Welcome” arranged by Robert Gower.

5. Seniors who attended the Carlthorp School before Harvard-Westlake gather for a yearbook picture.

4

6

6. Head of Upper School Audrius Barzdukas gives Bryan Polan ’14 his ring before shaking his hand.

7. Peter Tilton ’14, left, Luke Soon-Shiong ’14, Nick Knight ’14, Tommy Choi ’14 and Max Rothman ’14 pose for a group photo after the ceremony.

8. President Rick Commons concludes the ceremony by speaking first to the parents and then, breaking tradition, turns to address the students.

PHOTOS BY SCOTT NUSSBAUM/CHRONICLE

Features The Chronicle • Sept. 25, 2013

GRAPHIC BY EMILY SEGAL

utside the binary

Although most students’ genders match their biological sexes, there are some whose gender identities do not, sometimes leading to confusion.

By Julia Aizuss

A

s most teachers do on the first day of school, Spanish teacher Joaquin Fernandez-Castro began first period with a roll call. When he reached the name “Gabrielle*” ’14, however, he was corrected.

He was not just pronouncing the name wrong — the name itself was wrong. Gabrielle wanted to be called Asher*.

“Asher?” Fernandez-Castro said. “Okay, Asher.” He moved on to the next student in the class.

“I was nervous because I hadn’t corrected anyone [before that],” Asher said. “It was a hiccup in the roll call.”

As Asher proceeded through classes though, the moment of correction became easier.

Sometimes, if the teacher asked if they had a preferred name or wanted clarification on pronunciation, Asher could say, “No, actually, I go by

Asher.”

“Some of them were like, ‘Oh, that’s not at all a nickname for [Gabrielle],’” Asher said. “The majority of them were just like, ‘Okay,’ and they went on. Now I don’t think any of my teachers call me Gabrielle.”

Well, aside from Latin teacher Paul Chenier, who they’d had the year before.

“I didn’t correct him,” Asher said, giggling, “because he didn’t do roll call since he knows everybody, but that’s fine. Maybe if I see him in the hallway I’ll say something.”

The students, at least, needed no correction. Anyone who’s friends with Asher on Facebook was brought up to speed June 16, when Asher changed their first name on Facebook to Asher and uploaded a new profile picture, hair cut short in a dyed red wave.

“If you could call me

[Asher] now,” the picture’s caption read, “that’d be great.”

With that picture, caption and name change, Asher made at least one thing clear: they did not identify as a girl.

However, they don’t identify as a guy either. There’s a reason Asher uses the pronoun “they”: they identify outside of the gender binary.

The gender binary, which states that there are two distinct genders, male and female, can imply that gender and sex are both interchangeable, according to Gender Spectrum, an organization that provides education and training on gender. But gender is not necessarily tied to sex, which is determined by biological characteristics, the organization says, and not everyone falls within the binary — like Asher.

A multitude of labels refers to people outside the binary,

from genderqueer to genderneutral to nonbinary, the term Asher uses.

“Nonbinary is just not falling into the binary, so there’s a spectrum of gender,” Asher said.

Although the school has had several transgender students in the past, school counselor Luba Bek noticed students identifying as gender-neutral only a couple years ago.

“It’s a new thing,” she said. “It’s new for me too.

I’m learning along the way, asking kids a lot of questions and apologizing before I ask them. But I go, ‘Okay, I’m sorry, instead of researching it online I want toask you what it is that you’re experiencing.’’

• Continued on page B2

B2 Features

The Chronicle

Sept. 25, 2013

‘There’s a spectrum of gender’ • continued from page B1 It’s a learning process.”

Asher never conceived of anything beyond the gender binary until the summer before their sophomore year, when they met someone at camp who had changed her name and identified as genderneutral.

Their meeting and conversation gave Asher a lot to think about, they said.

“I’ve always had small hints that maybe I didn’t fit the definition of a girl, if there is one,” Asher said. “I think meeting her and then subsequently reflecting on myself, I saw a lot of puzzle pieces fit together.”

Since then, Asher has contemplated going on testosterone and spent time unknotting the ties between their gender and their sexuality. Before that, Asher had always figured those “small hints,” like their childhood habits of competition with boys and driving girls on bicycles around the elementary school playground track, pegged them as a “butch” lesbian stereotype.

For now, identifying as nonbinary is the easiest option.

“I guess you could say I’m on a pause right now trying to figure out what I want to do with my body,” Asher said, adding that this isn’t necessarily typical of all genderneutral people.

“A lot of them don’t base their identity off whether or not they want to transition, and it’s more just whether they feel like they identify as a man or a woman, but from my experience, I identify that way just because I don’t know exactly how I want my body to look right now,” they said.

More than just Asher’s body is in pause. Although they changed their name — Asher being the result of a monthslong quest whose end was nearly “Taylor” or “Topher” or “Hunter” — they won’t legally change it until they graduate.

Until then, they want to avoid any discrepancies. Their name in the yearbook will be “Gabrielle,” as it is on the Common Application. When Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts called their name at the Senior Ceremony Sept. 15 to receive their class ring, she said “Gabrielle,” and Asher, clad in a white button-down and dress pants, came forward to shake President Rick Commons’ hand.

And their mother refuses to call them Asher. (Asher wanted to list their name as “Asher” on the Common App, but their mother didn’t want them to. Their mother also didn’t give permission for Asher, who is under 18, to use their name in this article.)

However, Asher stressed that they’re lucky — their mother is open-minded, supportive and doesn’t object to Asher going by Asher at school.

“She birthed me, so she can call me whatever she wants,” Asher said.

Still, although Asher understands their mother’s discomfort with the name and “is fine with it,” they do hope that she’ll use it in the future, when they’re an adult.

T

he research she read was unmistakable: binding your chest increases risk for blood clots and breast cancer.

Now, on the days when she wakes up feeling like a boy, Esther* ’15 can’t present herself as she feels inside.

Before she discovered the dangers of binding, Esther, who uses both mascu-

line and feminine pronouns, would sometimes go to parties dressed as a guy: chest flat, clothing loose, hair short, a bowtie, maybe calling herself “Ben” because her short curly hair made her look like actor Benedict Cumberbatch, according to her friends.

“It’s actually better than how I dress as a girl,” Esther said. “I put more thought into it.”

Asher thought they were the only nonbinary person at school until a couple weeks ago, when Esther said she was gender-neutral at a meeting of Project 10, a confidential support group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning students led by Bek. Asher and Esther are the only gender-neutral students at the school that Bek knows of, she said.

But while Asher’s nonbinary identity may be impermanent as they figure out whether or not they may want to physically transition, Esther said she’s felt gender-neutral her whole life.

“Some bisexual people will say they’ll wake up in the morning and some days they’re interested in girls and some days they’re interested in guys,” Esther said. “For me, it’s kind of like, when I wake up in the morning, some days I feel like a boy — no, I am a boy — and some days I feel like a girl.”

Like Asher, though, Esther never had a label to fix to her feelings until recently, when she discovered the term gender-neutral this past summer, which she said she thought described her best. Since then, Esther’s also been able to talk to a distant cousin who also has a fluid gender identity for advice.

Her cousin, Esther said, is all she needs for support and commiseration. Her friends and her mother know she’s gender-neutral, too, and she doesn’t wish she had more gender-neutral friends.

But there’s a reason Esther only dresses as a boy at parties. At parties, she knows she’s with her friends, she said.

It’s not the same at school.

“I don’t think [HarvardWestlake] is fully accepting, honestly,” Esther said, adding that any place can always be more accepting than it currently is.

She said students have laughed at her before and mocked her gender identity, and these same students won’t acknowledge her around campus.

“That happens with me sometimes, that no one will really look me in the eye or say hi or anything even if “On those days,” we’re the only two she added, “it’s a people there,” Esguy in a girl’s body, ther said.

She wouldn’t explain furand it just doesn’t ther about any uncomfortable work out. It’s just situations she’s had at school. of Harvard-Westake, like waking up and Outside “I’ve been called a fag my looking in the mir- whole life,” she said. Instead, laughed, a bit nervously. ror and being like, she“It has happened, but I ‘what the hell, who don’t really…” Esther paused.

“I don’t know,” she added, and is this person?’”

Sept. 25, 2013

grinned quickly, sheepishly.

“Yeah, I don’t really want to talk about it. Sorry. I don’t want to call anyone out.”

Bek, too, was qualified in her use of the word “accepting.”

“We’re accepting in our community, or maybe politically correct in our community not to comment upon the new look,” she said, referring to Asher, who came to school Aug. 27 with a newly cut shock of hair. “But if a person were to walk around with a sign saying, ‘I’m gender-neutral,’ or whatever you call yourself, I think we would have a lot of questions to them but not necessarily some kind of ostracizing or some kind of negative attention.”

Asher’s combination of short hair and masculine fashion (they said they shop mainly in the men’s section) may as well be such a sign. And like Bek thought, Asher said they’ve never received “openly negative feedback.”

“I just get a lot of questions, like ‘what are your pronouns, why did you change your name?’” they said. “I guess I would prefer them ask than just get it wrong, so it’s nice that they want to know.”

Bek echoed Asher’s opinion.

“I don’t think there’s anything shameful in not knowing but being curious,” Bek said.

“I’m not being curious-nosy, I just want to understand what it is that I need to do for this person to feel comfortable.”

As the questions indicate, the environment at school is, if anything, ignorant. While this ignorance often results in the constant, curious questioning (like in the many “really nice messages” Asher received in their Facebook inbox after publicly changing their name), it also displays itself in more disquieting ways.

“There are certain things I know not to say,” Asher said. “When people just joke about a ‘tranny’ or something like that, and I’ll want to say, ‘Don’t say that,’ it’s not okay for me to say that.”

Asher has sensed that some students are “a little put off ” by them, or think they’re simply doing it for attention,

hwchronicle.com/features

because they have little understanding of what it means to be nonbinary.

“The struggle of nonbinary people is that people don’t even know about it sometimes,” Asher said. “The idea of not being a girl or a guy is just not even — they’ve never even thought that could be a possibility. So often while your identity isn’t invalidated constantly, it’s more like it’s not even — it’s almost invisible.

So that’s the main issue, when people aren’t even aware of its existence.”

Esther has also noticed the ignorance on campus, but for her it hasn’t only resided in sensing what others think of her, but among even her friends.

One of her best friends asked her a couple weeks ago what bisexuality was, while another recently argued with Esther about her gender-neutral identity.

“‘No, you’re not,’” Esther recalled her friend saying. “‘You’re a girl, and that’s how it is, and there’s no other way.’”

“I was kind of shocked,” Esther said, “because I don’t know what else the school could be doing to get the word out, but there are different genders and there are different sexualities.”

Bek also wasn’t sure the school could do anything formally to educate students. The matter becomes even more complicated, she said, without a distinct goal: do they want to teach the concept of the societal gender binary, or tell about all the varying gender identities out there or make nonbinary students like Asher and Esther comfortable?

Her instinct, she said, is to teach through personal exposure, like when she founded the Gay-Straight Alliance in 1994 with Chief Advancement Officer Ed Hu. (Asher, a copresident of the GSA, changed the name this year to stand for “Gender and Sexuality Awareness,” which is more inclusive.)

“We, back in the ’90s and even up until now, believed the more people get to know people who are different, and the more they understand that we’re not a bunch of nasty, scary freaks, the easier it is for people to accept the different,” Bek said.

This is the thought process that lies behind the tradition in Choices and Challenges, in which gay students come to speak to sophomores about their experiences. Last year, Asher spoke to Bek’s Choices and Challenges classes about being nonbinary.

“It’s upsetting that a system doesn’t teach you about other people’s identities, but it’s not upsetting that you don’t know about it, because if the system’s not teaching you, you have to go out and find out about it, so that puts the weight on you,” Asher said.

“I don’t have a lot of answers,” Bek admitted. “I myself have a lot of questions, because it’s new. I think I had a conversation with Asher about, ‘what do I address you as?’ When Asher said ‘they,’ I said, ‘but you’re one person.’”

A

couple weeks after the first day of school, Asher said about the teachercorrecting ordeal, “I mean, I guess it went well.”

“Mr. Chenier?” I said, recalling what they’d said before about his ignorance of their new name.

Asher laughed, remembering what they’d said last week.

“Well, actually, I don’t know.

Someone must have called me [Asher] in front of him, so he emailed me, and was like, how do I pronounce this name” — Asher laughed again — “and I emailed him back. So now I guess he’s going to call me Asher.” *Names have been changed

Features B3

Defining Gender Terms to know when you talk about gender cisgender refers to individuals whose gender identity matches their sex; often shortened to “cis”

gender binary the classification of gender into two distinct forms; the system by which society splits people into male and female gender roles and identities

gender expression outward display of one’s gender through clothes, behavior, voice, haircut, etc.

gender fluidity separation from traditional gender roles that allows for freedom to switch from one gender to another

gender identity someone’s self-conception of their gender; differs from biological characteristics, which determine sex

genderqueer general category for gender identities outside the male/female binary; terms include nonbinary and gender-neutral

transgender an individual whose gender identity doesn’t match their gender assigned at birth SOURCE: GENDERSPECTRUM.ORG GRAPHIC BY MORGANNE RAMSEY

B4 Features

The Chronicle

Sept. 25, 2013

EOJIN CHOI/CHRONICLE

Too strong a connection?

By Emily Segal

As Krista Knighton ’14 shuts the door to her dean’s office, she immediately reaches inside her backpack for her white iPhone 5. A few steps later, she sits down on a couch in the lounge and begins to dial. Knighton is calling her mom, the first person she wants advice from on whether or not she should drop her language class.

Knighton communicates with her mom often during school both by texting and calling. When she meets with her dean, one of the first things she’ll do afterwards is text or call her mom to let her know “I count on my mom what they’ve to help me with discussed.

“I count important decisions. I on my mom call her from school to to help me with importalk about changes in tant decimy schedule or grades sions,” Knighton said. “I on tests and essays.” call her from —Krista Knighton ’14 school to talk about changes in my schedule or grades on tests and essays.”

Like Knighton, 53.0 percent of the 385 students polled by the Chronicle said that they have texted their parents during school to inform them of a grade.

Due to cell phones, students and parents can now reach each other immediately.

“It’s not unheard of for teachers to have a message from a parent waiting for them before they’ve even made their way back to the office from the classroom, and I think that has a downside to it,” history teacher Nini Halkett (Ashley ’10, Patrick ’14) said. “It’s a little more parental involvement for this age group than we would like to see.”

Are teenagers more or less independent when their parents are just a text or phone call away?

Though theoretically students would learn how to be independent at school, cell phones are used by so many teens and parents that this may not be the case. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 91 percent of parents of children ages 12-17 own cell phones and 78 percent of American teens own a cell phone.

“I usually have my phone on my desk during class, and if my mom texts me, I’ll open it right away,” Mackenzie Howe ’14 said. “Sometimes she’ll just text me to say ‘I love you,’ which makes me happy.”

Though school counselor Luba Bek acknowledges that it is difficult to do research on this issue, she does believe cell phones have some effect on student-parent relationships.

“The instant gratification that comes from immediate communication with parents could hinder the kid’s ability to self soothe,” Bek said. “Ideally, something happens and eventually you will be able to handle it on your own.”

Bek thinks that ultimately the style of parenting students have been exposed to, not the technology they have, determines what type of relationship they have with their parents.

“The limits that parents set for you, the boundaries you have with your parents, not technology, is what makes you more or less independent,” Bek said. “This is not about the cell phone, this is about the level of trust in the family.”

Matthew Glick ’15 thinks he and his mom have a very trusting relationship, partly due to the fact that they both constantly use their cell phones.

“My mom is fine with anything as long as I text her to tell her where I am,” Glick said.

For Glick, having a cell

phone increased the amount of freedom his parents gave him. He said that his parents worry less about him because if they really need to reach him, they can “The limits that call or text parents set for you, the him and he’ll respond. boundaries you have Furtherwith your parents, not more, Halkett technology, is what sees benefits to students makes you more or less always havindependent.” ing their cell phones with —Luba Bek them.

School counselor “ Te x t i n g has been great because generally your kids will respond right away if you text them. It’s much easier to keep in touch,” she said. “For example, I might be more inclined to let my kid go out at night and stay out late knowing that they could reach me or I could reach them if need be.”

Upper school dean Chris Jones believes that this curent generation of teenagers is still trying to figure out where the boundaries exist in terms of cell phone usage.

“A lot of “A lot of parents feel parents feel like even though their like even though their kid is out in the world, kid is out in now they can be there the world, with them because of now they can be there with this technology.” them because of this tech—Chris Jones nology,” Jones Upper school dean said. “Before that, parents felt ‘I’m teaching them everything they need, now let me push them out the door’.”

“Every generation learns how to cope with things usually affected and invented by technology, and this is just part of it,” he added.

Sept. 25, 2013

hwchronicle.com/features

Meet Gregorio

Features B5

By Alex McNab

money. It was not long before the two friends realized they uanajuato, Mexico would have to find a way to is known for its ag- start making money, otherwise riculture, an indus- they would be unable to buy try which requires food. So Juarez, who played the a lot of putting accordion, and Hernandez, who things into the ground. How- played the bass, put on some ever, as the oldest member of nice clothes, and began making the Harvard-Westlake mainte- music. nance staff, Gregorio Hernan“It’s hard when you don’t dez has moved on from a life have any work,” Hernandez of cultivating central Mexican said. “We had to play music to corn fields to a job in which he survive.” spends most of his time picking And they did play, at parties things up off the ground. and events in Van Nuys and Hernandez cleans every- Mission Viejo, earning an thing. Pointaverage of $50 ing to the a night, which, quad, the when a It’s hard when you back bleachers, the Big Mac hardly don’t have any work, cost a buck field, he made it clear just we had to play music to and gas was 36 how much cents a gallon, survive.” was a lot of work he has to do. It is a —Gregorio Hernandez money. well-known A l o n g Maintenence Staff the way, they fact that students tend even picked to leave a lot up four more of trash lying around, but, for band members including a Hernandez, it is all in a day’s singer, a guitar player and two work. saxophonists. Together, they “I like to work here,” said were Los Texanos del Valle, the Hernandez in Spanish. “I am Mexicans of the Valley. good here, [and], at my age if I Search Los Texanos del do not work, I will get sick.”

Valle in YouTube, Hernandez Hernandez, who moved said, and you will see him there. from his rural home in Gua- The group even recorded an najuato to the outskirts of Los album called “Los Texanos del Angeles at the end of the 1970s, Valle,” which featured classic has been working for the main- bandera songs such as “El tenance department at Har- Angel de mis Alhenos” (the vard-Westlake for 12 years, and Angel of My Dreams) and “El will turn 72 in May. Corrido de Chihuahua” (The He left Mexico because Ballad of Chihuahua) but the farming did not pay well, and band eventually disbanded, as money was tight with a wife the amount of work they put and three kids. In fact, he into their music outweighed would not have even been able the amount of money they were to afford the trip to the states receiving for it. if it were not for his childhood After quitting the band, friend Margarito Juarez, whose Hernandez spent 20 years at a sister in Mexico City had raised company that sold refurbished enough money for the two of cars, and most of the few Engthem to buy bus tickets to the lish words that he can speak border. are specialized words he picked Juarez and Hernandez up at this job, because Hernanrode in a Tres Estrellas de dez felt no need to formally Oro, Three Golden Stars bus, learn English. a company which prides itself “[The people I was working on having the best passenger with] were all Mexican,” he automobile transport service, said. “If everyone spoke English, for two days. Juarez went first, then I would have to learn.” and Hernandez went a few days Finally, Hernandez, in 2001, later, bringing only the clothes was given his job at Harvardon his back. His wife Feliza and Westlake by upper school plant three kids soon followed. manager Felipe Anguiano, .

Having spent most of his Although Hernandez works childhood on a farm rather for 10 hours every school day than in school and without any and on weekends when there is citizenship papers, it was hard an event, he is only a temporary for Hernandez to find work. staff member because he is He was living in an legally retired and receives apartment with Juarez, who a Social Security check each was also not making any month.

G

“

Often seen around the quad and on the steps leading up to Chalmers, Hernandez’s duties are to blow the leaves at the school in the morning, pick up trash, clean around campus and, every other day, hose down the lunch area.

Anguiano describes Hernandez as hard-working, dedicated and very active.

“He’s always here,” Anguiano said. “He’s nonstop. You always see him cleaning.”

Hernandez, who has only returned to Mexico four times since moving, has now been a citizen of the United States for longer than he can remember. Shuffling through his wallet, he pulled out his United States passport card to prove it.

He has six kids ranging in age from 23 to 45. Isabel, Jim, Alberto, Guillermo, Gregorio Jr. and Mario, three of whom were born in the United States, all and now have jobs of their own.

A few of his children, like Alberto and Guillermo, who work for a portable toilet company, and Mario, who installs air conditioners, have maintenance related jobs as well. He still lives with two of his children, Isabel and Alberto, and his wife, who is also retired, in a house in Sylmar.

Between his Social Security check and the money he makes from working at Harvard-Westlake, Hernandez still doesn’t have much cash to spend.

“I have to pay for the house and the car,” he said. “It is expensive to live in California.”

But, regardless, Hernandez, who has never had a job at another school, is proud to say that there is nothing he does not like about working at Harvard-Westlake, and he does not plan on ever quitting his job here.

If he were to stop working, he said, he would most likely just stay at home, doing chores and trimming the trees in his yard.

MAZELLE ETESSAMI/CHRONICLE

Maintenance staff member Gregorio Hernandez journeyed from the corn fields of central Mexico to band gigs in Van Nuys and now works at Harvard-Westlake.

MAZELLE ETESSAMI/CHRONICLE

B6 Features

The Chronicle

Sept. 25, 2013

SELL YOUR SOUL

It’s more than a workout. It’s a revolution.

GRAPHIC BY JACOB GOODMAN

By Lucy Putnam and Lauren Siegel

classes after field hockey practices, saying she finds the class to be physically and psychoAs the lights dim, the blar- logically beneficial because it ing music begins, drowning allows her to challenge herself out the soft buzz of the people even after a demanding pracpedaling around you. Your in- tice. structor throws out some en“Setting goals and pushing couraging words and sweat yourself to surpass them also starts to pour down translates into your your face. Class has everyday life,” Kano begun. said. “[Soul Cycle] While workout is also a workout crazes are nothing that pumps you up. new to Los Angeles The instructor, the teens, Soul Cycle’s music and the peosleek yellow and black ple sweating bullets logo, current music next to you add to and fashionable cloththe atmosphere that ing line have attracted pushes you harder nathanson’s a huge following of self than you would on Trevor Price ’14 proclaimed “soul adyour own.” dicts.”

Soul Cycle has Tatiana Ettensberger ’14 four locations in Brentwood, recently began her frequent Santa Monica, Beverly Hills visits to the spinning class and West Hollywood. and now considers herself adClass reservations can dicted. be made online and classes “I tried it a few times here taught by popular instructors and there at the beginning of often fill up quickly. junior year, but only started While many are fans of the going semi-religiously over the well-known workout craze, summer,” Ettensberger said. others are skeptical.

“Now I go at least three times With classes coming in at a week.” $25, not including shoe rentEttensberger isn’t the only als and water, students such one spending $25 per class. as Aaron Drooks ’15 see the Glenne Carter ’14 has been trend as overpriced and excluattending Soul Cycle classes sive. twice a week for the past year, “It’s the capital of girls exoften finding herself at a class ercise at our school,” Drooks even after field hockey or bas- said. “It’s where you can go to ketball practice. ride a bike and listen to loud Alex Kano ’14 also attends music for an hour. Essentially,

How many Soul Cycle addicts are there?

11.5% of students attend at least one Soul Cycle class per week.

it’s perfect for Brentwood and go to a 7 a.m. class the next the Palisades.” day just to prove to them that This sentiment is echoed we could handle it. We did it by others such as Robert Lee pretty well, but it was definite’14, who finds Soul Cycle to be ly not easy.” overrated.

Price now sees the class as “I think that Soul Cycle “a great reason to get out of is merely a fad which entails bed early and start the day off little workout and overpriced the right way.” classes,” Lee said.

Many students like Price Louly Maya ’14 agrees that are hooked and eager to spread the class costs too much for the word about Soul Cycle to what it is. others. Carter attributes the “I’ve never been,” Maya obsession to the type of worksaid. “I believe it’s a good work- out that Soul Cycle provides. out, but it’s just not for me,” “In Soul Cycle I don’t necMaya said. “My issue with it essarily get tired,” Carter said. is mostly the price. I work out “I sweat so much, but the muabout four times a week, and if sic in the class and the vibe I replaced my gym visits with everyone gives off keeps you soul cycle classes I’d be spend- so energized throughout the ing $100 a class.” week just for Recently, a spinning the entire The music and class. Personvarsity field the vibe everyone ally, I don’t hockey team think it’s joined a class gives off keeps you so worth it.” and Carter, a energized throughout However, varsity capFormer crittain, attested the class.” ics such as to the posi—Glenne Carter ‘14 tive experiTrevor Price ’14 have been ence. converted to “It honSoul Cycle estly brought fans. us closer together as a team “I was joking about Soul because we were just having Cycle one night with a friend fun and enjoying the music while hearing our moms and together and dancing on the sisters raving about it,” Price bikes,” she said. “It was great said. “They kept telling us that bonding and the adrenaline it was so hard and that we and release you feel during and would struggle [in the class], after that class really clicked so we decided that we would with all of us.”

“

The Chronicle polled 381 students about the increasingly popular exercise trend.

42.2% of Soul Cyclers spend more than $30 on each visit.

18% of Soul Cyclers attend classes more than four times per week.

SOURCE: CHRONICLE POLL GRAPHIC BY LAUREN SIEGEL

Sept. 25, 2013

hwchronicle.com/features

Features B7

Putting on the glitz

As the first Homecoming Formal approaches, many students are busy buying dresses and renting limos, while others feel that their peers are too extravagant.

By Zoe Dutton

Some students think that the real problem is not the Violet* ’15 wriggles into admission ticket but the presher Herve Leger dress and sure to spend additional monslips on a pair of heels, glanc- ey.

“I do find some of the traing out the window to see if the limo has arrived. She fluffs her ditions surrounding formal a hair — just blown out at the bit excessive,” Teddy Leinbach Dry Bar salon — with freshly ’15 said. “It shouldn’t be necesmanicured nails, and grins ex- sary [to spend a lot of money] citedly at her reflection in the or required as a sort of tradition. That kills some of the mirror.

This is how Violet envisions enjoyment in my opinion. You her lead-up to the Homecom- should spend as much as is ing Formal Sept. 28 in Taper practical. If you need to spend money on a limo if you’re goGymnasium.

While some students have ing as a group, that’s fine. But been feverishly preparing for you shouldn’t be expected to the dance, others feel that come in a limo. I guess it’s just their classmates are devoting L.A. private school culture.”

While most students will too much money and energy to an event that will span one rent a limo or party bus, a few plan on driving themselves or evening.

“I think some people go being driven by parents. “[If I took a limo] I would overboard,” Agnes* ’15 said. “I do feel pressured because I feel be paying out of my own pocklike I have to put my standards et, and I’m saving up for colhigher to fit in with everybody lege,” Eugenie Lund-Simon ’14 said. “I preelse.

That’s fer to keep actually why my money I’m not sure for more I want to You don’t need a important go, because things. I get I don’t want limo to have fun, but it why people to be wearing definitely helps.” would want the wrong to [rent a thing, or un—Eugenie Lund-Simon ’14 limo] and der-dressed. definitely if Money is a they have barrier.”

Though officially called a the means to, then that’s cool formal, prefects have told stu- for them. I’ll probably just dents to come in semiformal drive with a group of friends, so it’ll still be fun. You don’t attire.

Agnes is on financial aid, have to have a limo to have and said that the school’s deci- fun, but it definitely helps.”

Others believe that fision to charge $50 per ticket may also deter her from at- nances need not be a concern for students who tending.

“When I saw the invitation want to attend the forI was like ‘Oh yay, that’s some- mal.

“I think you can thing I would go to’, and then I saw the price,” Agnes said. spend however much “My brother goes to Cathedral you want to spend,” High, and his [formal] tickets Ashley Volpert ’14 are like ten bucks. One of my said. “You can easii n g friends is actually thinking of ly go without spendgoing to the Loyola dance in- anything other than contributing for a limo. If money is stead because it’s cheaper.”

While financial aid is avail- an issue, there are definitely able for those who qualify, it ways of getting around it.”

Volpert plans on borrowcomes out of a package that students receive at the begin- ing her sister’s dress, buying ning of the year and that they a new pair of shoes and getwould otherwise spend in the ting her hair and makeup done professionally with a group of bookstore or cafeteria.

“We give students about friends.

“I think the people who $1,000 and they decide how to use it,” Director of Finan- are more disapproving — I cial Aid Geoffrey Bird said. know this sounds kind of mean “There’s always problems — are the people who haven’t when you get into discre- gotten asked [out to formal], tionary spending. We do far which is totally understandmore than most other private able,” Morgan Choi ’15 said.

Choi is still searching for schools.”

“

Dress to Impress

53% of students said they felt their peers were spending too much on formal

the right dress, but is contemplating buying one from Parker Dresses, whose formal wear typically ranges from $150 to $400.

She also plans on getting her hair and nails done professionally and sharing a party bus with her friends.

While Choi says she personally wants to try to spend as little as possible, she considers at maximum a couple thousand dollars to be reasonable for others.

“I think that a lot of people are spending more because this is, at least for our class, the first semiformal type dance, so it’s more important to us. My dress is Herve Leger, but I got it on sale online. I don’t remember how much, but it was way under the normal price,” Violet said.

Herve Leger dresses usually range from $2,000 to $6,000. Not including the cost of a party bus or limo, Violet says the maximum amount girls should spend on formal is $400. *Names have been changed

emily segal/chronicle

The Chronicle polled 454 students who estimated how much they plan to spend on preparations for formal

34% of students said they will spend $0-$50 on formal, excluding the admission ticket

35% of students said they will spend $50-$100 on formal

20%

11%

of students said they will spend $100-$200

of students said they will spend over $200

58% of students said they will take a limo or party bus to formal GRAPHIC BY ZOE DUTTON SOURCE: CHRONICLE SURVEY

B8 Features

highstakes

Melvin*, the brain

Thelonius*, the artist

Choosing early schools

By Sydney Foreman Melvin*, The Brain The college process has not changed much for Melvin since August but he is now certain he will apply Early Action to the University of Michigan. He is also sure he will apply to the University of Chicago, which he described as one of his top choices.

“I have started writing the Chicago supplemental essay, but I have not written a word of the Common App,” Melvin said.

Melvin, however, has completed standardized testing, and he is finished asking his teachers for recommendations.

Thelonius*, The Artist

The Chronicle

Thelonius remains adamant on applying Early Decision to New York University.

“My top choice sails way above my other choices,” Thelonius said. “I compiled a list of other schools that I’m not super enthusiastic about.”

He is not only more interested in applying to NYU, but also more confident.

After researching the university’s statistics through his dean and Naviance, Thelonius feels reassured that he is a likely candidate for admission.

“Statistically, it’s very much in my favor,” Thelonius said.

However, he said he’s not sure if he’ll submit art supplements with his application. He may submit a music portfolio, but probably not an art portfo-

Sept. 25, 2013

Daisy*, the all around

Florence*, the athlete ILLUSTRATIONS BY JACOB GOOMAN

The four seniors take various steps in their college process from considering application supplements to making campus visits lio, he said.

Although he admitted he hasn’t been “super responsible” in preparing his regular decision applications, he does plan to visit Kenyon College and Oberlin College during mid-semester break and may add them to his list.

Thelonius is still signed up for the October SAT, but he said he does not feel immense pressure to raise his scores.

“I don’t have to do any better,” he said. “I just should.”

Daisy*, The All-around Daisy has narrowed her first choice to Columbia University, which she said is the only specific school she has in mind. She believes she will apply Early Decision, but has a few reservations.

“I’ve heard from a lot of past seniors that they do Early Decision and they have buyer’s remorse while everyone else still has options,” Daisy said.

“It might be nice to look at all the options I have after regular decision.”

She has finished the Common Application, but is still working on Columbia’s supplementary materials. Daisy has already requested teacher recommendations and is also working on getting a recommendation from the UCLA lab she worked in this past summer.

Florence*, The Athlete In early October, Florence will visit Oberlin College courtesy of an all-expense paid trip funded by the college. She has

been in contact with the track and field coach there, but said that Oberlin is “not at all” her first choice. Oberlin will not be able to offer her an athletic scholarship because it is a Division III school, while Division I schools she is looking at, such as Georgetown University, can.

“Georgetown has been my number one, but I’m still not really in contact with the coach,” Florence said. “I’d go there without doing track, but that’s not ideal.”

Florence does not intend to apply Early Decision to Georgetown because she is retaking the SAT in November, and her scores will not be available in time for an Early Decision application. *Names Have Been Changed

Arts&Entertainment The Chronicle • Sept. 25, 2013

MORGANNE RAMSEY/CHRONICLE

JACOB GOODMAN/CHRONICLE

MAZELLE ETESSAMI/CHRONICLE

BREAK A LEG: Aiyana White ’14, left, sings a note from “Run and Tell That,” Daniel Davila ’14 busts a move from “You Can’t Stop The Beat” and Molly Chapman ’14 performs Tracy Turnblad’s lines in front of musical director Daniel Faltus and co-directors Michele Spears and Rees Pugh during auditions for “Hairspray,” this year’s musical.

Auditions hit the 60s

tions, students entered the choir room for the singing he countdown has be- portion.

On the second day, the acgun. A total of 44 days tors performed one of a group remains until Nov. 8, opening night. The of scenes selected for audicast and crew have 40 more tions.

The final days of auditions rehearsal days.

Before those numbers took place in the dance studio.

Students spent two days gained meaning to the cast of “Hairspray,” every member working on their dance audihad to go through a process tions.

They learned their steps that spanned more than two on the first weeks: audiday, and pertions. formed them A total This year I knew I on the second. of 67 stuhad to audition because The choreogdents audiraphy was for tioned for it was my senior year, the song “You the musical, Can’t Stop The the last time I would be which co-diBeat.” rector Rees in a show with all my M o l l y Pugh said friends.”

Chapman ’14 ties the 1994 entered the production —Molly Chapman ’14 process a vetof “Hair” eran, having for the largest number of students audi- performed in school productions since ninth grade. tioned.

“I have always loved muThe 55 member cast is also sical theatre and have been the largest ever.

Auditions began Aug. 29 doing shows for a long time,” and continued for the five fol- she said. “When I came to Harvard-Westlake, it just felt lowing school days.

Students had to prepare natural to audition for the three auditions: singing, act- musical and I have auditioned for it every year since. This ing and dancing.

The script and score were year I knew I had to audisent out in late June, giving tion because it was my senior students two months to pre- year, the last time I would be in a show with all my friends. pare.

On the first day of audi- Plus, ‘Hairspray’ is such a fun

By Beatrice Fingerhut

T

“

A record number of 67 students read scripts, repeated steps and sang notes during the auditions for this year’s fall musical, “Hairspray.” show.” niority is rarely taken into acChapman auditioned for count when selecting students the lead role of Tracy Turn- for certain roles. blad.

“We try to walk into the “I felt like I was best suited room with a blank slate and for it,” she said. “I thought I see whose auditions jump out could do a good job with this at us,” Pugh said. one.”

Aiyana White ’14, who has Chapman thought that she also performed in many Hardid best in the dance audition vard-Westlake productions, crediting the freer nature of auditioned for the role of Litthe process. tle Inez, singing “Run and Tell In the singing and acting That.” portions of the auditions there “I chose it because Jusare more room for mistakes tin Carr ’14, [who died last and misinterpretations, she year], was always casting said. the show with me When the cast list as that part,” she was emailed on Sept. said. “When I actu9 to the students who ally read the script, had auditioned, ChapI thought it would be man learned she had a lot of fun.” recieved the role of White described Tracy. the audition process A large focus of as fun. the audition process White was also nathanson’s for Pugh is creating cast for the role she Rees Pugh a fair playing field for auditioned for. all students.

Pugh hopes that Because of the repetition “Hairspray” will be a celebraof students who audition for tion of what Carr stood for. shows, there is a misconcepCarr wanted to have more tion among students that the students included in the mucast of shows is predeter- sicals. mined.

“We all gain by including,” “The shows are not pre- Pugh said. cast,” said Pugh. “It seems like “Even though [Carr] won’t we may see a lot of the same 15 be here to perform with us,” or 20 kids because they come Chapman said, “we will all be to us with a certain skill set performing with him in our that is pretty strong.” hearts, striving to be the best He also stressed that se- we can be.”

B10 A&E

The Chronicle

Sept. 25, 2013

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF DIANA KIM, MATTHEW LUCAS AND SYDNEY CHEONG

TAKE A BOW: Diana Kim ’15, top, perfoms a violin solo for the HW SOMA concert at Way Church Aug. 25. Matthew Lucas ’14, bottom, rehearses playing the piano at his home for an upcoming Junior Chamber Music show. Sydney Cheong ’14 and Alexia Le ’14, right, play violin and piano together at a JCM concert at The Colburn School.

Playing music is their forté

By Jivani Gengatharan

J

esse Liu ’14 arrives 15 minutes early to his orchestra rehearsal at The Colburn School, warming up on his French horn and practicing sections of Dvorak’s New World Symphony.

This was Liu’s routine before rehearsal every Sunday afternoon during the 20122013 school year at Colburn, a performing arts school that contains various musical ensembles.

Liu is one of many students who participate in orchestras outside of school and is one of four Harvard-Westlake participants at Colburn.

Every June, students audition to be placed in an orchestra, regardless of their participation in previous years.

They must perform a solo and sight-read a few excerpts for a panel of Colburn teachers.

Liu joined because he knew he could improve many aspects of his playing, such as sight reading, intonation, rhythm and tone. He then auditioned last year for the Colburn Youth Orchestra, consisting of students who play both string and wind instruments.

Heather Wattles ’15 began her journey at Colburn much earlier than Liu at the age of 9. She began in the Violin Ensemble and will be participating this year in the Colburn Chamber Orchestra, consisting only of string musicians.

She spends time outside of school playing in the Colburn Orchestra, but she is also a member of the upper school symphony. She chose to participate in orchestras outside of school to be exposed to different styles of music and

Several students participate in orchestras outside of school, seeking a more rigorous music program to improve their artistic abilities.

methods of teaching. She at- in master classes and worktributes her development as a shops hosted by JCM. Each performer to the conductors group has self-run rehearsand the other musicians she is als and meets with a coach paired with. six times during the season.

“Playing violin is my favor- In March, the ensembles all ite thing to do, so Colburn is gather for a final concert. really fun, not something that Matthew Lucas ’14, who I do for a grade,” Wattles said. plays the piano and the vioWhile Liu and Wattles lin, started at JCM during his have both participated in Col- sophomore year. He decided to burn orchestras in the past, join after seeing some groups Diana Kim ’15, a violinist, and from JCM perform at HarPaul Suh ’14, a cellist, attended vard-Westlake. their first reLast year, hearsal this Lucas perpast Sunday. formed in Both Kim four concerts You are held and Suh have with his piaccountable for every taken private ano trio. He lessons at noted the sound. ‘Air-bowing’ or Colburn, but coaching sesfake playing does not fly sions as his they decided here.” to audition favorite part for the Colof JCM. —Alexia Le ’14 burn Youth A l e x i a Orchestra Le ’14 joined this summer JCM as a and will join Liu this year. freshman, a year before Lucas.

Both orchestras at Colburn She was first exposed to JCM have three concerts this year when Sydney Cheong ’14 asked and will be performing at the Le to play in her ensemble.

Los Angeles County Museum Since then, Le has performed of Art. in many JCM recitals, through Colburn is not the only which she was awarded scholout-of-school orchestra that arships to the Idyllwild Chamattracts Harvard-Westlake ber Music Program and Monstudents. A few students are tecito International Music members of Junior Chamber Festival.

Music, in which they are diLe said that the teamwork vided into approximately 20 involved in these small ensmall ensembles to play cham- sembles has made her a better ber music. musician.

Applicants must first au“Chamber music has all dition with two pieces for a the benefits of orchestra in panel of JCM faculty and also that it blends different instrumention what period of mu- ments together in a harmonisic or composer they would ous fashion to your ears, yet be interested in playing. Then more challenging because you based on these factors and the are held accountable for every applicant’s age, small ensem- sound,” Le said. “‘Air-bowing’ bles are formed. or fake playing does not fly During the year, students here.” are encouraged to participate Sydney Cheong ’14, Justin

“

Yoo ’15 and Sam Lee ’16 are also members of JCM. Enya Huang ’15, a violist, joined the Claremont Young Musicians Orchestra six years ago.

Applicants must prepare a scale, a solo, four given excerpts, and sight-read during their audition.

Every year, CYMO hosts three concerts at its home venue and performs a concert at Disneyland. Huang traveled with CYMO to Germany, Austria and Italy this past summer and performed at various historically acclaimed locations.

Cheong, Huang, Le, Lucas and Yoo are all members of the upper school symphony and therefore have experience with both small chamber music ensembles and larger orchestras.

Le found that chamber music in a small setting could bring out an individual’s style more than an orchestra could.

“Chamber music ensembles are much smaller than an orchestra and democratic in that the pieces leave a lot of room for interpretation to each player, whereas in orchestra the interpretation is entirely up to the conductor and players must follow suit,” Le said.

B e c a u s e these ensembles can take up a lot of time, Liu found it difficult to manage practicing

his French horn with other extracurricular activities and school work.

“As a wind player, you have to practice every day,” Liu said.

“If I don’t practice for one day, my level of playing the next day is significantly lower.”

Le explained that being in an out-of-school orchestra allowed her to enjoy and learn more about music than she normally would have.

“We have found so much meaning in the pieces that otherwise wouldn’t be found individually to make for a more interesting and entertaining performance,” Le said.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF PAUL SUH

Sept. 25, 2013

hwchronicle.com/ae

A&E B11

Actors teach drama workshops

By Morganne Ramsey

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF RAY KIM

ON THE BEAT: Ray Kim ’14 uses Logic Pro X to work on his composition, “Pobi’s Little Adventure,” which won a $1,000 national award.

Musician wins Young Composers award

By Jensen Pak

As Ray Kim ’14 started up Logic Pro X on his Mac desktop computer at home, he hummed the tune of his newest composition. After finding an appropriate melodic progression, Kim finally settled on a smooth ending and decided on the name “Pobi’s Little Adventure.”

“The first thing that came to my head was an adventure by a small kid and I decided to go all the way with that,” Kim said.

“Pobi came from my mom’s head. She said after hearing this song, she was reminded heavily of a character called Pobi in a Miyazaki production.

I was looking for a cute cuddly name and Pobi fit the bill perfectly.”

Kim was woken up early in the monring by the sound of a ringing phone. Excited but uncertain, he picked up the phone to receive what he called one of the greatest wakes up call of his life, being named one of three winners in the Orchestra category of the 2013 National Young Compos-

“

ers Challenge cause he said for his song. that it was one of his fa“After the vorites.

At the end when call, I felt like “At the I was flying,” all of the instruments end [of the Kim said. are brought together piece], when “For a while all of the inmy parents with ascending chords, struments and I were it makes my heart jump. are brought pretty much t o ge t h e r There is this ineffable dancing with with ascendjoy. Then I feeling that just makes ing chords, muttered to my blood pump with a it makes my myself that heart jump,” this must be refreshing feeling.”

Kim said. a dream. My —Ray Kim ’14 “There is this mom pinched ineffable feelme aftering that just wards.”

The National Young Com- makes my blood pump with a posers Challenge is open to refreshing feeling.”

Kim started his composing musicians ages 13 to 18 in the U.S. Kim’s piece will be career in sixth grade, when his performed live Oct. 6 by the interest in composing became Marin Symphony at the Na- apparent to his piano teacher.

Also a composer, his tional Young Composers Chalteacher introduced him to lenge Composium.

The composium will be GarageBand and basic music held at the Marin Veterans composition.

From there, Kim asked his Memorial Auditorium in San Rafael, Calif., where parents for an independent he will receive $1,000 and a piano keyboard for composing, professional recording of his but finally settled on Logic Pro for Mac. song.

Including “Pobi’s Little AdKim was glad that the judges selected this piece be- venture,” Kim has composed

5 festivals to present student films

By Jacob Goodman Twelve student films will be screened at five film festivals across the country in October.

“Finding Erica Jones” directed by Natalie Markiles ’13, “Forest King” directed by Nikta Mansouri ’15 and “Righteous Conversations” directed

by Rebecca Hutman ’12 and Jamie Feiler ’12 were selected for the film portion of the Tower of Youth Festival Oct. 4 in Sacramento.

“Erica Jones” and “Forest King” were also selected by the Citizen Jane Festival in Columbia, Mo. Oct. 4–6.

The Mill Valley Film Festival Oct. 12 in Larkspur, Calif. will also screen Mansouri’s other film, “Different Drum-

mer,” which she co-created with Jessica Spitz ’15, “The Darkroom” created by students in the 2011-2010 Photo I class, “History Lesson” created by Nina Juarez ’16 along with other students in the Righteous Conversations Project and “Post Remembrance“ created by Cosima Elwes ’15, Hana Kateman ’15 and Danielle Stolz ’15.

“I’m really proud of [both my films],” Mansouri said.

“And it’s just a great opportunity and amazing recognition.”

“Friends Matter” by Sarah Jensen ’14 and Sophia Lopez ’14, “Uncomposed” directed

by Molly Cinnamon ’14 and “Finding Erica Jones” were selected out of 1,000 submissions to be shown at the Chicago International Children’s

around 20 songs to date, all of which can be viewed on Youtube.

On Sept. 20, Kim released a composition, “Moonsilver,” as a surprise for his mother’s birthday.

“After finalizing the music with a slideshow expressing my gratitude for raising me to be a wonderful person, I hoped that she would like it as much as I did,” Kim wrote on Facebook.

After watching, she expressed her feelings to me with tears and cries of joy saying she will treasure this moment and the video for the rest of her life.”

Kim, a clarinet player in the school symphony, says that he has discussed with music teacher Mark Hilt the possibility of having the symphony play his piece later in the year.

“I’m just proud of the fact that this has been accomplished through my hard work without much help,” Kim said.

“My teacher was very helpful, but the creativity itself was all me. I always have trouble with endings, but I was able to finish this one with a bang,” Kim said.

The Actor and the Stage classes were taught by a guest teacher last week, and are being taught by another artist who is visiting the class this week.

Last week, each section of The Actor and the Stage had three classes taught by actor Stephen Kearin, who is one of the inventors of the Simlish language for the “Sims” computer game series, and is one of the voice actors in those games.

The workshop was titled “Spacework and Movement,” and students performed a number of different activities in order to work on these skills.

Acting teacher Michele Spears said that activities included actors pretending to drink from a cup, and acting as though they received a gift, and their classmates had to guess what the gift was by the nature of their actions and facial expressions.

Spears said that the goal of the exercise was for students to learn “how specificity and detail starts to tell stories before they even start to speak.”

The classes are also supposed to prepare students for one of their major assignments for the coming year, the observation exercise, where students have to observe three stranger and then choose one and to choose one to present to the class.

For the presentation, students will act as that stranger in a silent scene.

The second set which wil take place this week, is the “Neutral Mask Workshop” classes taught by Bob Beuth, who has appeared in “Monk” and “Fun with Dick and Jane.”

In this workshop, students will learn what Spears called an “old acting technique,” where actors wear a mask with a neutral expression and act out scenes.

“You learn how the body communicates without relying on just facial features,” Spears said.

Five film festivals will screen 12 films created in Video Art classes and recent summer programs.

Film Festival, which “It’s just a is from Oct. 25-Nov. 4. testament to the “Post Rememquality of work that brance,” “Friends we produce,” she Matter,” “History said, “And that work Lesson,” “Righteous comes out of not only Conversations,” “Suthe school year but perstition” directed out of the summer

by Xochi Maberryfilm program and Gaulke ’12 and Alex the Righteous nathanson’s Moritz ’12, and “It’s Conversations Not Just One” directProject.”

Cheri Gaulke ed by Michael Kell“Friends Matman ’16, Kelly Morriter,” was selected as son ’16 and Sarah McAllister the winner by the Human Re’15 will be screened as part of lations Commission of the City the All-American High School of Beverly Hills for its contest Film Festival Oct. 4-6 in New that challenged kids across the York City. nation to create videos in reThe number of acceptanc- sponse to the prompt “Everyes this year is not abnormal, one plays a role in bullying….

Video Art teacher and upper the bully, the bullied, the byschool visual arts department stander and the person who head Cheri Gaulke said. makes a difference! What’s

your take?” for this year’s Bully Prevention Month.

“Words Can Hurt” by Sophia Lopez ’14 and other Righteous Conversations Project participants was selected as the runner-up.

The students will all receive a proclamation for their work on their films from the Beverly Hills City Council Oct. 15.

The benfit of students creating these anti-bullying PSA’s is that kids are more likely to repsond to their peers, Gaulke said.

“The challenge that all of us have as adults is how to teach teenagers,” Gaulke said. “And your best chance for teenagers to listen is that teenagers will listen to each other.”

B12 Features

The Chronicle

Sept. 25, 2013

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF TIGIST MENKIR

A Semester of Discovery Tigist Menkir ’14 spent a semester in Nigeria filming a documentary at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture.

By Jessica Lee Ignoring the scorching heat and stinging sunburns, Tigist Menkir ’14 strolls through the vibrant street markets, admiring the colorful ankara fabric of bubas and kabas, traditional Nigerian dresses.

Menkir went to Nigeria for the second semester of her junior year, from the end of January to early July.

Throughout those six months, Menkir spent time with her father, who works at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture.

The previous summer, Menkir had interviewed staff workers of IITA, such as the security guards, the environmental scientists and the director general, to produce a video documentary of the research compound.

During her filming at IITA, Menkir also had the opportunity to briefly meet Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria.

“It was a thrilling experience, meeting so many kinds of people who made IITA,” Menkir said. “This was ultimately the main purpose of the video: to not only educate others about IITA’s function and progress in agricultural research for farmers in developing areas, but also to learn

The Chronicle presents a pre-screening of the DreamWorks film

The Fifth Estate starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Wikileaks founder Julian Assange

Thursday, Oct. 10 2:45 p.m.

Ahmanson Lecture Hall Open to all students and faculty (Rated R for language)

more about the people who the secluded research comwork to make IITA the way it pound to the American Chrisis.” tian Academy, which is locatAfter seeing her film, the ed in a more populated area bioscience director of IITA of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo gave Menkir an internship to State. document the lab procedures, “I would walk in the bus such as gel electrophoresis, and enter a world of debates, bioinformatics and DNA ex- gossip or in some days, comtraction. Menkir filmed the plete silence,” Menkir said. “I documentary in a video format could discuss with my Nigethat would be rian friend both inforabout her exmative and periences as I was a little tense a i n s t r u c t ive Nigerian for new emmodel, or hear and worried, but then ployees. my friends I would receive such “I enjoyed explain cermy days at overwhelming support.” tain ‘Amerithe interncanisms’ they —Tigist Menkir ’14 found intership running down esting.” the hallways, E v e r y past the Exmorning, traction Room to the Liquid Menkir and her junior and seNitrogen storage, with my nior classmates gathered becamera tools,” Menkir said. fore school for “pep talks” and “Although it was a tad taxing, personal interaction. Menkir’s it was also fun to redo shots initial fears and anxiousness again and again of the techni- were immediately dispelled, cians, because I would always she said. get an entirely different and “As soon as I saw all more developed document of the smiling faces and wavtheir actions.” ing hands, I felt much more In addition to her intern- at ease,” Menkir said. “Most ship and documenting at IITA, people I came to know were Menkir also attended school so affable, open, tolerant and in Nigeria and took rigorous enthusiastic that soon this supplementary online courses. overall joy factor rubbed off on With six other girls from me, and I began to smile much IITA, Menkir took a bus from more often.”

“

And though none of her fellow classmates were taking AP exams, when Menkir left her test room in early May, friends and schoolmates welcomed her with claps and cheers.

“I was a little tense and worried, but then I would receive such overwhelming support,” Menkir said. “From these experiences, I have come to develop a more relaxed and less stressed approach to dealing with my worries, or what I seem to think are ‘troubles.’”

And although her classmates all spoke fluent English, Menkir had some initial difficulties overcoming lingual barriers when she encountered her friends’ Nigerian Yoruba slang.

“It took a while for me to get accustomed to common phrases of the area, English and Nigerian, such as ‘wahala’ or ‘don’t vex,’ but I began to understand the gist of the discussions,” Menkir said.

“By having friends of a multitude of nationalities, backgrounds and interests, I learned how to accept, embrace and enjoy the various ideas and outlooks which they brought with them,” she added. “From my part, I was able to share my own cultural beliefs and attitudes with my school community there.”

BIG RED the sports magazine of the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

Homecoming issue out Oct. 5 cross country • field hockey • football • girls’ golf girls’ volleyball • boys’ water polo

Sports The Chronicle • Sept. 25, 2013

Boys’ Water Polo

Mater Dei deals team first loss

By Mila Barzdukas

The rivalry between Mater Dei and Harvard-Westlake water polo reached new heights last weekend when the Wolverines lost 9-6 in the finals of the Santa Barbara Tournament. The team made the tournament finals for the first time in school history, but came up short when they rematched the Monarchs.

“We went up 2-0 and then they scored five consecutive goals,” center Ben Hallock ‘16 said. “We had so many opportunities to score but we never fully capitalized.” Hallock fouled out in the fourth quarter.

The team had a relatively easy time earning a spot in the finals, breezing by Santa Barbara 19-5 and Newport Harbor 20-11. A semifinal win over San Diego’s Cathedral Catholic 11-6 brought the team to the finals. The tournament is made up of the top 16 ranked teams in the state, and top ranked CIF Division I teams Loyola and Dana Hills were present. It is considered to be one of the top tournaments

PAYBACK: Outside hitter Jo Kremer ’14, left, was instrumental in the girls’ volleyball team’s victory over defending CIF champions Marymount.

C7

Perfect Start

Five of the seven Wolverine fall varsity teams began the 2013 campaign on undefeated streaks of two wins or more.

Football, field hockey and boys’ water polo had the largest winning streaks, all starting the season with four or more straight victories.

GRANT NUSSBAUM/CHRONICLE

JACK GOLDFISHER/CHRONICLE

• Continued on page C6

JACK GOLDFISHER/CHRONICLE

ON A ROLL: Wide receivers Teddy King ’14 and Phil Smith ’15, right, celebrate after scoring a touchdown. Forward Maddie Oswald ’15, top left, splits a group of defenders against Newport. Attacker Peter Tilton ’14, bottom left, prepares to pass the ball against Murrietta Valley.

Football

Wolverines overwhelm Sylmar

By Eric Loeb

SAM SACHS/CHRONICLE

QUICK DECISION: Quarterback Marshal Cohen ’16 chooses to run the ball on a pass play on Sept. 12. The new transfer quarterback has helped the Wolverines start the season 4-0.

The Wolverine football team enters its Oct. 5 Homecoming matchup against Palisades Charter High School with a 4-0 record after defeating Sylmar on their home turf on Sept. 20. In what many predicted to be a down year, the team has dominated its opponents so far, winning each game by an average of more than 27 points per game and scoring 47 points per game.

The Spartans scored 83 points the Friday prior to the matchup, but the Wolverine defense held them in check, while their offense took care

of the rest scoring seven touchdowns in the team’s 6524 route.

The game was Time Warner Cable’s “Game of the Week”.

“It was pretty cool being able to watch the game on TV after I recorded it,” nose tackle Noah Pompan ’14 said. “It had no effect on our playing style, but it was a cool experience.”

While Garrett Robinson ’15 and Carter Begel ’17 each scored twice for the Wolverines, Marshal Cohen ’16 led the way with 223 passing yards and 108 rushing yards, accounting for four touchdowns.

“I feel it was my not my best game because I missed a lot of easy throws and tripped on a couple of runs,” Cohen said. “That just shows that I still have a long way to go until I become the quarterback that this team needs to beat the very good teams we play in the Mission League. But a win’s a win and I’m proud of my team.”

Cohen, who replaced Chad Kanoff ’12 as the Wolverines’ starting quarterback, said before the season that he had “big shoes to fill,” in replacing the former Big Red Athlete of the Year. Through four • Continued on page C5

Field Hockey

Two wins in two days extend varsity squad’s winning streak to five consecutive victories

By Jordan Garfinkel

As its first league games kick off, the field hockey team has not hesitated to flex its muscle right off the bat, defeating its first five scheduled opponents, including Huntington Beach, to whom they lost in last year’s State Championship.

Huntington Beach was responsible for two of the Wol-

verines’ three losses last year, leaving the field hockey team scoreless in both matches.

The team responded resoundingly on Sept. 10, defeating Huntington Beach by a score of 3-1. During the offseason, the Wolverines made the proper technical and mental adjustments to finally getting over this hump, goaltender Daniela Grande ’15 said.

“It was really satisfying

especially for the returning varsity members after the close loss last year. Huntington Beach stood as the greatest hurdle for our team to overcome and we collectively understood the game’s significance even before we played,” Grande ’15 said. “We were able to translate our desire to win into playing less individually that day and therefore more successfully.

The team’s strong start is very reminiscent of last year’s, when the team won four of its first five games. This season has seen a slight increase in offensive productivity, with 22 goals in the first five game compared to last year’s 17.

The combination of Grande and the team’s stout defensive line has only allowed two goals to hit the net and has shut • Continued on page C3

GRANT NUSSBAUM/CHRONICLE

POSSESSION BATTLE: Forward Alexandra Kano ’14 engages a defender in the Wolverines’ 5-0 win over Newport.

The Chronicle

C2 Sports

Sept. 25, 2013

Facts &

Figures

7

Number of goals scored by Emma Wasserman ’16, the field hockey team’s leading scorer.

9

Number of touchdowns scored by the football team in their 65-24 win over Sylmar Sept. 20.

Number of Wolverines in the Hall of Fame.

Four athletes will join these ranks during halftime of the homecoming football game.

67

63 Margin of victory of the girls’ golf team in their win over Louisville Sept. 12.

Game to watch OCT. 5

Boys’ Water Polo vs. Long Beach Wilson 4 p.m. @ Copses Family Pool

The boys’ water polo squad, ranked second in Divison I, placed second in the Santa Barbara Tournament, losing to top-ranked Mater Dei in the final by a score of 9-6. They face the fourth ranked Bruins in a homecoming matchup.

KEY PLAYER

Anthony Ridgley ’15 The second year starter at goalie for the Wolverines will be crucial to its success against Long Beach Wilson.

He has led the team to a 5-1 record to start the year.

Junior Varsity Cross Country Next Meet: Sept. 27 at Wayne Walker Invitational

Football 3-1 Next Game: Oct. 5 vs. Palisades

Field Hockey 3-1-1 Next Game: Sept. 26 vs. Glendora

Girls’ Tennis 4-0 Next Match: Oct. 1 vs. Chaminade

Girls’ Volleyball 1-1 Next Match: Sept. 26 vs. Redondo Union

Boys’ Water Polo 5-1 Next Game: Oct. 3 vs. Huntington Beach

PHOTOS PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF JASON KELLY

PLAY BY PLAY: The HWTVSports team airs its inaugural broadcast in the football team’s season opening home win over Loyola, right. A screenshot showing the archived broadcast on the website, above. Gabe Golob ’16, Jordan Strom ’16 and Matt Beyer ’15, right, work the commentator booth alongside Max Tash.

HWTVSports to broadcast 3 additional football games following Loyola broadcast

By Audrey Wilson

After the airing of their first broadcast of the Harvard-Westlake Loyola football game on Aug. 31, HWTVSports plans to broadcast more games this season including Harvard-Westlake’s Homecoming game against Palisades Charter High School on Oct. 5.

HWTVSports is a broadcasting program led by Athletic Director Jason Kelly, that livestreams sports video online. Matt Beyer ’15 has been working with Kelly on the live broadcasts, preparing behind the scenes and learning the technology that runs the whole system.

During the first airing, Philip Thompson ’16, along with Beyer and Sergio Perez, who was hired by Kelly, worked on color commentary, Gabe Golob ’16 hosted the pregame show, Jordan Strom ’16 interviewed Head Of Upper School Audrius Barzdukas, during halftime and Matthew Gross ’19 and Clayton Hol-

lander ’16 manned the cameras and hosted the post-game show.

“Harvard-Westlake has an enormous fan base for many sports,” Beyer said. “HWTV is beginning to give all of those fans across the country — many who are at college — a chance to see their favorite teams play. Alumni can now experience the thrill of our sporting events even if they don’t live in the Los Angeles area.”

HWTVSports is available online at livestream.com and will be streaming the footage live from the stands above Ted Slavin field.The network also plans to stream the rest of the football team’s home games, against Serra on Oct. 11 and against St. Paul on Oct. 18.

“I think the HWTV booth in the stands will enhance the Homecoming atmosphere,” Beyer said. “It’s great to walk in and see that Harvard-Westlake is so proud of its teams that it has a camera crew and

“

The HWTV booth in the stands will enhance the Homecoming atmosphere. It’s great to walk in and see that Harvard-Westlake is so proud of its teams that it has a camera crew and broadcasters working to ensure that as many people as possible can be a part of our Homecoming experience.”

—Matt Beyer ’15 HWTVSports Broadcaster

broadcasters working to ensure that as many people as possible can be a part of our Homecoming experience.”

HWTVSports was one of Kelly’s first initiatives after taking over as Athletic Director July 1. Kelly, who had previously created a similar program at Milken School, also brought in Max Tash, whom

nathanson’s

Kelly worked with at Milken, to assist the commentary and effects groups for the first broadcast.

The Loyola game stream utilized three cameras and featured the use of instant replays and an on-screen scoreboard.

The network will look to expand to all home sports with the same features, Kelly said.

4 athletes from Class of ’07 to join Hall of Fame

By Lizzy Thomas

Four former Wolverines will be inducted into the Harvard-Westlake Athletic Hall of Fame during halftime of the Homecoming football game, including the first two football player inductees ever.

Cara Bickers ’07, Ryan Calvert ’07, Yosepha Greenfield ’07 and John Howe ’07 will be awarded plaques during halftime of the Oct. 5 game against Palisades Charter High School.

The plaques are a departure from the medals awarded in years past, and will feature a framed letter similar to the ones varsity athletes receive for letterman jackets.

Bickers is being honored for her performance in track and field, Greenfield for hers in basketball and Calvert and Howe for theirs in football.

The four were selected by a Hall of Fame committee that includes select athletic and school administrators and veteran athletic program heads.

“We try to pick the group as well as a CIF Semifinal apthat is most deserving of the pearance. honor,” Head of Athletics TerShe won the school’s Best ry Barnum said. “We voted on Female Athlete and the Misit, and those sion League’s four were Most Valuthe ones that able Player came out on awards her We try to pick top.” senior year, the group that is most Bickers in addiwas on the tion to being deserving of the honor. varsity track named Allteam, where —Terry Barnum American by she won four and Head of Athletics Adidas straight MisStreet and sion League Smith and titles for both considered as long jump and triple jump. a McDonald’s All-American She now runs track at USC. nominee. She went on to play “So often we see kids come basketball at Yale. through who could have been “Yoyo was one of the great better if they did this or did point guards we’ve had at this that. Cara got everything out school, boy or girl,” Barnum of her ability,” Barnum said. said. “When the ball was in “She was very very successful, her hand you knew something just a tremendous all-around good was going to happen.” athlete.”

“With the great start our Greenfield played varsity football team is on, with this basketball all four years in being the first year we beat high school, leading her team Loyola in football, I think it’s to two Mission League titles only appropriate that we in-

“

nathanson’s

Ryan Calvert ’07

nathanson’s

Yosepha Greenfield ’07

nathanson’s

Cara Bickers ’07

nathanson’s

John Howe ’07

duct our first football players, and that it be these two guys,” Barnum said. “They really laid the foundation for the success that we’re having right now.”

Sept. 25, 2013

hwchronicle.com/sports

Sports C3

inbrief

Flaherty wins gold with Team USA

LUKE HOLTHOUSE/CHRONICLE

PLAYMAKER: Center midfielder Chloe Castaneda ’15 gears up to strike the ball. Castaneda was invited to the Under-17 Women’s National Team tryouts in Florida. Castenada helped last year’s soccer team to a 20-win season and a Mission League Championship victory.

Castaneda trains with U.S. U-17 National Team

By Leily Arzy

Soccer player Chloe Castaneda ’15 was one of the six midfielders chosen to attend the U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team’s week long training camp in Lakeland Ranch, Fl. Casteneda, who helped the girls’ soccer team earn a Mission League championship and a number one ranking among high school teams on the West Coast in 2012, is currently on the preliminary roster and is accompanied by 25 other girls all selected by U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team head coach B.J. Snow.

The girls are from throughout the United States and their ages range from 14 to 16.

“Snow called me and told that we are not encouraging me I was going to be asked each other, then he will run to come in and that I would us.” have to be The cliconfident mate around and try my the camp is

“Snow called me very similar to hardest and see where it and told me I was going that of Jamaitakes me,” ca’s, which is to be asked to come in where the 2013 Castaneda said. and that I would have to C O N C A C A F At the Unbe confident and try my Women’s camp, the der-17 Chamhardest and see where it pionship will girls spend their days takes me. be held from scrimmagOct. 30 to Nov. — Chloe Castaneda ‘15 9. A total of 18 ing and training. girls will be seCastaneda says that she “loves lected to attend the championthe intense environment.” ship, which means they have “Everyone is really encour- also qualified for the National aging,” Casteneda said. “Dur- Team. ing practice, if the coach sees “When you come in [to the

“

camp] you don’t play the position that you usually play,” Casteneda said. “They train you to work in another area of the field. It’s more trying to play for the team and what the team needs.”

Castaneda’s position on her club team, LA Premier FC, is attacking center midfielder.

At the camp, the coaches have adjusted her to play holding midfielder, which she says is not a drastic change.

Because of the camp, Castaneda will be absent from school and has to keep up with her work while she is gone. She finds it hard to get work done even though there is a study hall, but she says her teachers are being very understanding of the situation.

Field Hockey

Team earns redemption in finals game rematch • Continued from page C1

GRANT NUSSBAUM/CHRONICLE

EYE ON THE BALL: Midfielder Brooke Reese ’15 dribbles down the sideline in field hockey’s 5-0 victory over Newport on Sept. 19.

out the team’s last three adversaries. Grande has nearly kept the Wolverine goal off limits and meanwhile has been scanning the productivity of an offense that averages a win margin by over four goals.

“I think the team can improve on getting shots off near the goal and playing even more decisively on offense,” Grande said. “Even in games where we’ve won by a lot, the amount of shots taken isn’t that high and obviously that means we could be potentially winning by much more.”

Along with the improved offensive execution and defensive stability, the field hockey players have formed camaraderie that has lead to a cohesive unit, brought together by the team’s preseason tournament in St. Louis, Missouri.

“This year we have connected and really developed great friendships off the field and I think that’s contributed most to how well we’ve been

able to do as a team thus far,” stopper Hana Chop ’14 said.

“We’ve never been closer as a team or as friends for that matter and that bond is going to help us a lot as our league games kick off.”

The Wolverines have started off in near perfect fashion, with high level production from both the offense and defense, but a whole league and playoff schedule rest in sight.

“I think we can always improve as a unit, meaning we need to keep up the cuts, hard passes, aggressiveness in the [shooting] circle, and counterattack,” Chop said.

“With the tone we’ve already set this season with our current record, I think our goals remain to stay intense and focused on getting ourselves to the championships the best and most efficient way possible - getting those early goals and maintaining possession,” Chop added.

“We are taking it game by game, but our end goal is the championship.”

Jack Flaherty ’14 will now have international gold to go with his CIF Division I Championship ring and his Player of the Year award, after the pitcher-infielder won the International Baseball Federation World Cup as a member of the United States U18 National baseball team in Taichung, Taiwan Sept. 8.

Flaherty, who was named to the final U.S. World Cup roster on Aug. 24, had one win, an 8-0 victory in the team’s opening game against Italy, in two pitching starts during the international tournament.

The University of North Carolina commit also played third base as Team USA went 7-1 overall and defeated Japan 3-2 to win the gold medal.

The gold medalist was named CIF Division I and Los Angeles Times’ Player of the Year last year after leading the Wolverines to the CIF Division I Championship.

— Grant Nussbaum

Basketball alum signs with Spanish squad

Renaldo Woolridge ’08 signed with Bilbao Basket of the ACB League in Spain Sept.

7. The forward signed a short term deal and is expected to work with the team in preseason training.

Woolridge also played for the Los Angeles Lakers’ summer league in Las Vegas, Nev. As a Wolverine, Woolridge averaged 23 points and 11 rebounds and was rated a fourstar prospect by Scout.com.

Woolridge graduated from USC and averaged 1.0 point and 1.3 rebounds per game in his senior season.

— Tyler Graham

Equestrian rider wins Grand Prix

Lucy Davis ’10 won the Global Champions Tour Grand Prix on Sept. 14, earning a spot in the record books as the youngest woman to do so. The Harvard-Westlake equestrian team alumna was the last to ride in the jump-off, which included nine horses, and came out on top by less than a second.

Davis and her nine year-old Belgian Sport Horse scored a huge upset by beating Frenchman Patrice Delaveau. During the Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland, the riders had to perform in heavy rain.

—Caitlin Neapole and Henry Vogel

College team trains on Ted Slavin field

The Boston College football team used Ted Slavin Field on Sept. 13. The team practiced at the upper school prior to its game against University of Southern California. BC fell to USC 35 to 7 on Sept. 14.

BC follows the U.S. National Volleyball and Wrestling teams as a top-level athletics team using Harvard-Westlake facilities. U.S. volleyball preceded BC this past summer, scrimmaging in Taper Gymnasium.

—Tyler Graham

The Chronicle

C4 Sports

Season Standouts

Garrett Robinson '15 Football, running back

Sept. 25, 2013

Several Wolverine athletes have played vital roles in their teams' success in September.

Emma Wasserman '16 Field Hockey, forward

Lizzy Thomas '14

Girls' Cross Country

JACK GOLDFISHER/CHRONICLE

GRANT NUSSBAUM/CHRONICLE

In one of the football team's best starts in school history with a 4-0 record, Robinson has led the squad in rushing with 315 yards in three games, posting an average of 105.3 yards per game. The sophomore phenom ran for 83 yards against Loyola to help the team beat the Cubs for the first time 27-21. Robinson also added one rushing touchdown against the Cubs.

The field hockey team has been flawless as of press time with a record of 5-0. Wasserman has been the leading scorer with six goals and has also tallied eight assists.

Last year, Wasserman notched seven goals and five assists throughout the whole season as a freshman. The squad will take on Glendora High School tomorrow, Sept. 26.

Coming off the girls' cross country team's fifth straight Mission League title last year, Thomas has led the effort in capturing title number six. The veteran runner and new team captain has started the season finishing first in all three races she has taken part in, helping lift the girls' team to a victory in its first league meet Sept. 7.

Nicole Elattrache '14

Anthony Ridgley '15

Maddy Abrahams '14

Girls' Volleyball, setter

JACK GOLDFISHER/CHRONICLE

In the girls' volleyball match against the Division I CIF State Champions Marymount, Elattrache led the Wolverines to victory with key saves in the final set. In Elattrache's second year as starting setter, she will now play six rotations, an increse from the three she played last year.

Boys' Water Polo, goalkeeper

LUKE HOLTHOUSE/CHRONICLE

Ridgley has played varsity since his freshman year, but he did not consistently start until this season. He is the sole goalkeeper on the roster. This summer he was one of three Wolverine players to make the U-16 Cadet National Team. The squad is ranked second in CIF Division I.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF JOHN WEISSENBACH

Girls' Golf

SAM SACHS/CHRONICLE

As the sole captain of the Wolverines' girls golf team, Abrahams has led the squad to an undefeated start including a win over Louisville where she shot a three over. The team played a league match against Marymount Sept. 24, but the results were unavailable as of press time.

hwchronicle.com/sports

Sept. 25, 2013

Sports C5

Football

Cohen, Robinson lead Wolverines in landslide victory

• Continued from page C1

games, the transition has been nearly seamless. Only a sophomore and in his first year as a part of the HarvardWestlake football program, Cohen has already accounted for 1,039 yards during the team’s undefeated start, while Kanoff accounted for 1,358 yards from scrimmage in his first four games during his senior campaign.

“Marshal has done a great job,” second year Head Coach Scot Ruggles said. “Obviously he still has a lot of room to grow and improve but he's been a pleasant surprise so far this season.”

Teammates say the sophomore, who won an offseason position battle with Albert Choi ’15 after transferring from Brentwood, is one of the team’s primary leaders on and off the field.

“It’s really fun watching him work his magic, he’s simply a playmaker,” Captain Desmond Butler ’15 said.

“Marshal has really become a brother to all of us on the team.”

Cohen has led a very balanced Wolverines offense through four games, with nearly half his yards coming through the air and the other half on the ground, despite losing starting skill player Hassan Smith ’15 to a leg injury. Ruggles credits the offensive line for this symmetry.

“In my two years here, one as an assistant and last year, we really had no running game and I think that a lot of factors go into that,” he said.

“We've got a couple of injuries but that’s part of the game and someone else has to step up.

The offensive line has accepted the challenge and done a good job with that so far.”

Starting lineman Andrew Park ’15 credits some of the team’s success on the ground to their efforts.

“I think the line has played pretty well,” he said. “I’m proud of how we have really come together as a group, but we still have to get even better.

We all need to work on our technique and communication.

We cannot have any mental errors. Mental errors can kill us against good teams.”

Robinson and Cohen have been very successful running the option so far this season, but, like any other high paced offense, the benefits a team gains from catching a defense off-guard can be negated by disadvantages inherited in the scheme.

Players say Cohen has been exposed to many more hits so far this season than Kanoff did all of last season. Both Ruggles and Cohen think there is no concern to be had when his quarterback attempts to scramble.

“You’re always worried about how many times your kids get hit,” Ruggles said. “We talk not just with Marshal but with our wideouts and running backs about trying to avoid useless hits. At some point you've got to be smart and get down and get out of bounds but with us being a run-pass type of offense our skill kids are going to get hit.”

“I'm not worried at all. I think I'll be fine,” Cohen added.

Although the team’s offense has been impressive, both players and Ruggles think the defense has also done its job well.

“To this point we’ve played pretty well,” Butler, the team’s starting middle linebacker said. “The most we’ve given up is 24 points. We definitely have things to work on but our

JACK GOLDFISHER/CHRONICLE

IN TRAFFIC: Wide reciever Julian Shabahang '14 runs past a North Hollywood defender during the Wolverines' 49-14 victory. Shabahang has been a major piece in the squad's 4-0 start, which is one of the best in school history. The team will take on Palisades Charter High School at Homcoming. effort is there which is what counts.”

Players say the Wolverines' defense has been on the field more than in previous years because of the speed at which the offense moves, but it has only given up an average of less than 20 points per game.

“The defense has been awesome,” Ruggles said.

“People have said in the past that we couldn't play defense.

The defensive staff has done a

Cross Country

Girls' team hopes to add to top finishes after Invitational

By Tyler Graham

After finishing second in last year’s Mission League finals, Lizzy Thomas ’14 has not missed a beat, starting the season with three consecutive wins. Thomas, a co-captain, has powered the girls’ varsity team to an undefeated start in league races.

“So far I’m really enjoying the season and having a great time with all of the team and individual success that we’re having,” Thomas said.

Cross country coach Jonas Koolsbergen believes that Thomas has developed into a great captain, and one who could lead the team deep into the playoffs.

“She’s a great leader, she’s done the right training and she is projecting forward to have her best season ever,” Koolsbergen said.

Thomas and the girls’ team have set their standards high and have their sights set beyond winning their sixth straight Mission League title.

“In terms of Mission League, it is a little bit weaker this year because of the seniors who graduated last year from other schools,” Thomas said.

“Obviously we would like to win our sixth straight title, but because that is a little bit of an easier goal we want to focus more on CIF.” The girls’ team hopes to steadily improve throughout the season in order to go into the postseason with momentum.

Experienced runners like Thomas and fellow captain Monica Nimmagadda ’14 have been showing the ropes to younger runners who hope to contribute to the team’s success.

“I think our team has a

lot of potential,” Thomas said.

“We have a lot of really good freshmen and when you have freshmen it takes time for them to reach their potential because they haven’t done it before."

Both the boys’ and girls’ teams ran in the Woodbridge Invitational on Sept. 21, which Rich Gonzalez of PrepCalTrack described as having “one of the strongest fields this nation will see in 2013.”

The girls’ team placed 14 out of 28 teams and had the best time among the other Division-IV teams in attendance. They were paced

by Thomas’ seventh overall finish. The boys’ team had the third best time of any Division-IV team in the meet but finished 30 out of 31 teams in their race.

“We did well,” Koolsbergen said. “It’s a little deceptive

good job. It is what it is with how much they are on the field.

You can't really worry about that. We are going to go fast on offense and play hard on special teams and the defense will be out there as long as it needs to.”

The Wolverines' next matchup is against Palisades High School at home for Homecoming on Oct. 5. The team will look to defeat the Bulldogs and enter the Mission

“

League season 5-0, where they will face what players describe as a real challenge. Regardless of who the team’s opponent is, Cohen said he is ready to dominate.

“I might get a little nervous before a game,” he said. “But every time I step onto the field I just play the game to the best of my abilities. We still have a lot to work on but there isn’t a better way we could have started the season."

The most notable thing so far is a really outstanding group of five sophomores. They’re already having good results and their projections ahead are really exciting for this program. ” —Jonas Koolsbergen Cross Country Program Head

because we ran in the second best race in a truly elite meet.

We were running against big Division-I and DivisionII schools and it was a good experience in an incredibly competitive environment.”

The boys’ team has gotten off to a slower start than they would have liked, but promising talent and key runners returning from injury provide reason to believe that a strong season is still within reach.

So far the team has been led by co-captain David Manahan ’14 and a young core of sophomores who are awaiting the return of Manahan’s fellow captain Ben Weissenbach ’15

nathanson’s

from a knee injury to push the team to their full potential.

“The most notable thing so far is a really outstanding group of five sophomores,” Koolsbergen said. “They’re already having good results and their projections ahead are really exciting for this program.”

Weissenbach is making progress but is still not yet ready to run. Koolsbergen expects him to be able to return in time to help the team surge torward the playoffs.

“I expect both genders to be highly competitive at the California State championships,” Koolsbergen said.

The Chronicle

C6 Sports

Sept. 25, 2013

Girls’ Volleyball

Wolverines break six year drought against Marymount

By Elijah Akhtarzad

After losing to Santa Barbara in the varsity girls’ volleyball home opener, the squad upset the Division I CIF State Champions Sept. 12 in Taper Gym. “The Marymount victory will push us to work even harder because now we’ve set a standard for ourselves and we want to beat it very time we walk into the gym,” outside hitter Josephine Kremer ’14 said.

The Wolverines quickly took the first set 25-11. Led by Zoe Baxter’s ’16 serving frenzy and Kremer’s smashes, the team was able to take an early 11-4 lead on the Sailors. Setter Nicole Elattrache ’14 sparked another run early in the second set with three consecutive saves to give the team a 13-7 advantage. The Sailors came back within two points late into the set, but the front row shut down the Marymount route by rejecting three hits to close out the set 25-20.

“The Marymount game gave us confidence, and we proved to ourselves that if we work really hard, we can accomplish our goals,” Baxter said.

Coming into the third set with a 2-0 lead in the best of five match, the team fell initially into a five-point slump.

The Sailors’ front row shattered the Wolverines in the third set, taking the game 1725.

The front row of the Wolverines, led by Kremer, Mia Natsis ’14 and Arielle Strom ’14 outplayed the Sailor hitters in the fourth set, aiding the squad’s attempt to close out the match. The fourth set was the closest set thus far between the two teams, witnessing six lead changes until the Wolverines were able to pull away at the end and take the set 25-19, with saves from the squad’s back row of Mila Bardukas ’15 and libero Marielle Bagnard ’14.

“We tried to focus on our side of the court, but nonetheless it felt great to beat such a competitive team like Marymount,” Baxter said.

The team participated in the Durango Tournament in Las Vegas, Nev. last weekend where they went 3-4 overall.

The Wolverines’ next match comes against Redondo Union High School tomorrow, before starting Mission League play against Alemany on Oct. 1.

Girls’ Tennis

Squad hopes to defeat rival Santa Barbara heading into league play

By Lucy Putnam

Despite a close first match against Palos Verdes on Sept.

10 resulting in the Wolverines eking out a win in the tiebreaker and its 13-5 loss to Peninsula on Sept. 12, the girls’ tennis team rebounded to win its next two matches on Sept. 17 against Marlborough and Sept. 19 against Valencia.

“The season is going pretty well so far; our first game we managed to beat Palos Verdes in a tiebreaker, and they’re always a pretty good competitor,” said Margeaux “Levi” Craske-Curtin ’14. “Unfortunately we lost to Peninsula, but it was a really good learning experience for some of the newer players because they were put in high-intensity match play against very strong opponents. That’s also been our only loss so far.”

While the team was unconcerned about its match against Notre Dame on Tuesday, they are gearing up for their match today against Santa Barbara High School.

“Santa Barbara is about the same status as Peninsula, so we expect a very tough match, Craske-Curtin said.

“We need to improve on making sure the players are going to the trainers/doing physical therapy, and resting as needed, so that they can perform at top level for matches later in the season.”

Craske-Curtin emphasizes players’ health because nu-

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF OF BERNARD DILLARD

SMASH: Opposite Hitter Mia Natsis ’14 hits a serve receive ball against the Marymount Sailors, top. Although Natsis usually hits on the right side of the court the rotation requires her to hit on the left. Libero Marielle Bagnard ’14 passes a serve as the back row and bench look on, bottom.

Boys’ Water polo

Team suffers first loss to Mater Dei after starting with four wins • Continued from page C1

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF CHELSEA PAN

EYE ON THE BALL: Chelsea Pan ’14 hits a forehand in a match against the Marlborough. merous players are nursing injuries currently.

Although Julianna Simon ’16 is recovering from her fractured her spine and currently undergoing physical therapy, she is still vulnerable to the occasional spasm. Jenna Moustafa ’17 has a slight wrist injury in addition to some toe problems.

Finally, Arin Schwimmer ’15 has a shoulder injury and might miss the season.

“Our goal is to build strong doubles teams and since tennis is a kind of individualized sport, to have a strong team bond,” Chelsea Pan ’14 said.

in the nation as California teams regularly dominate national polls.

“Making it to the championship of this tournament was very exciting, but at the same time we are nowhere near satisfied with the results,” head coach Brian Flacks ’06 said.

“We’re excited to get back to training and improve.”

Flacks said small details and plays gave Mater Dei the upper hand.

“Every time we play them is going to be a battle,” Flacks said. “The games we play against them are always close and this time they did a better job of taking advantage of our mistakes. They also had great goalkeeping which kept them in the game.”

Mater Dei goalkeeper McQuin Baron had 19 saves to give the Monarchs the edge.

Mater Dei and HarvardWestlake are considered to be the two best teams in California, filling the first and second spots respectively in the most recent CIF Division I rankings.

A rematch is scheduled for Oct. 15 but Flacks said he wants the team to focus on all of their upcoming games, not

“

We went up 2-0 and then they scored five consecutive goals. We had so many opportunities to score but we never fully capitalized.”

—Ben Hallock ’16 Center

just their impending rematch against CIF champs Mater Dei. Seasonal nonleague games have posed no threat to the Wolverines’ perfect record.

The team improved to 4-0 after beating Ventura High School 15-5 Sept. 4 and CIF Division II powerhouse Murietta Valley 15-7 in their season opener Sept. 11.

In the game against Murietta Valley, the squad was winning 10-2 before Flacks cleared the bench. Team losses have only come from tournament play.

The team played Division II squad Damian Tuesday, but the results were not available as of press time.

The Wolverines previously beat the Spartans over the summer in preseason play.

nathanson’s

The next home game is Homecoming against Long Beach Wilson Oct 5. Ranked fourth in CIF Division I, the Bruins are expected to be a good match for the Wolverines, according to Flacks.

League play is set to start Oct. 9 against Crespi at Copses Family Pool.

Despite the loss to Mater Dei, Duncan Froomer ’16 does not think it will limit the team’s success for the rest of the season.

“I really see us being so successful this year,” Froomer said. “There’s just something about this team.”

Check out http://hwchronicle. com/sports for boys’ water polo coverage.

hwchronicle.com/sports

Sept. 25, 2013

Sports C7

Girls’ Golf

New coaches lead team to unbeaten start to season despite missing senior leader

By Sam Sachs

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF LAUREN SONG

SWINGING FOR THE FENCES: Lauren Rothman ’16, teeing off above, has contributed to the team despite her relative youth.

15% Discount for Harvard Westlake Students

Pick-ups and Dine-ins from the regular menu

Under the leadership of the new coaches Marge Chamberlain and Ric Moore, the girls’ golf team has started their season off 2-0.

The girls’ golf team beat Louisville Sept. 12 to push their record to 2-0.

The team beat Chaminade in their season opener and by beating Louisville without one of their two seniors, Kate Kushi ’14, they remained undefeated and notched their second league victory.

“We’ve gotten off to a really good start,” Maddy Abrahams ’14 said. “Kate Kushi’s absence has definitely been a big loss, but fortunately we haven’t had any close matches yet where those extra few strokes could really make the difference.”

Kushi did not play because of an injury, but Abrahams, the team captain, picked up the slack by shooting a 38 on the way to the Wolverines’ 224-291 win.

The squad played Marymount at Rancho Park Sept.

24, but results were unavailable as of press time.

With the absence of Kushi some of the underclassmen have assumed more responsibility “girls that normally maybe wouldn’t be in the

starting lineup have assumed of the teams in the [Mission] a bigger role on the team, so League.” their opportunity to gain exKushi will be back for the perience has been beneficial,” Notre Dame match and she Abrahams said. thinks she will be back during “For the this week. rest of the “Unfortuseason, I just nately I’ll be look forward pretty rusty I just look to continat first but I forward to continue ue to build hope to get to build upon what upon what back into strengths our the swing of strengths our team team already things,” Kushi already possesses.” p o s s e s s e s ,” said. she added — Maddy Abrahams ’14 lainChamber“Individually, has been I am pretty impressed happy with with the play my game right now. I shot of the sophomores so far. three over at Louisville which “All three of our sophowas solid, but I definitely have mores, Lauren Song, Lauren a lot of room to improve and to Rothman and Vivian Lin, are get my numbers right around beginning to hit fairways and par.” greens.” Chamberlain said, The Wolverines have a “We just need them to roll in “crucial,” according to Abra- more putts, I am confident hams, mid-season league they will.” match on Sept. 26 and face Her confidence in these off against league rival Notre sophomores and in the proDame Oct. 10. gram is evident.

“This Thursday is the mid“The Harvard-Westlake season league tourney,” Cham- girls’ golf team has a bright fuberlain said. “It is important ture. We hope to get [Kushi] as we will be able to see Notre back soon,” Chamberlain said.

Dame before our head to head With Kushi returning with them. They are the team the Wolverines will be at full to beat. We will have a good strength as they prepare to idea of how we match up with face the remainer of their not only them, but the rest league schedule.

“

C8 Sports

IN THE POOL with Warren Snyder ’14

The Chronicle

Sept. 25, 2013

By Audrey Wilson

Season stats:

Q: A: Q: A: Q:

12

NATHANSON’S

Goals Scored

7

Assists

A: Q: A:

Why did you decide to start water polo, and do you plan on playing in college?

I started playing water polo when I was 10. I started playing because my brother had begun to play the previous year and he said he really liked it. Yes, I plan on playing in college.

What game do you look forward to most this season?

The game I look forward to is CIF Finals versus Mater Dei. This game is important to me because they are our biggest rival and they are the only team in our way of winning CIF.

How do you feel about your win over Murrieta Valley, and how do you think it sets up your team for this season?

It was a good win for our team. They were ranked fifth in CIF and we beat them by a lot, showing that we are a top competitor for the title of CIF Champions.

JACK GOLDFISHER/CHRONICLE

CUTTING THE ANGLE: Center defender Warren Snyder ’14 blocks a shot by a Loyola attacker in a league game last year on Oct. 17. Snyder is the only starting senior on the team this year. Snyder is also the only Harvard-Westlake boys water polo player selected to be a memeber of the All-CIF Division I team.

What are your individual and team goals this season?

Q:

My individual goals are the same as my team goals: win CIF, win Mission League and have the highest team GPA on campus.

A:

How has your position on the AllCIF Division I team affected your playing this season?

I have used the First Team All-CIF Division I award as fuel to keep working. The goal wasn’t to win the award, the goal is to win CIF, and the award shows that I am headed in the right direction.

Q: A:

What has been the most motivating factor throughout your water polo career?

Recently, it has been the game we played against Loyola. It was a tie game and one of their best players, Chancellor Ramirez, scored against me to win. I don’t want that to happen again, so I have been using it as motivation.

Q: A:

What has been your favorite moment during your HarvardWestlake career?

My favorite moment was winning high school State Champs. For me, we knew that we were a top team, and we beat Mater Dei, which just proved that they are not unbeatable. It showed that we are the two teams in contention to win CIF.